The Wicked Witch
by amaliesofie
Summary: It has been a thousand years since The Originals were created and for a thousand years the witch Malina has slept. Until her once best friend breaks his hybrid curse and she wakes up, ready to salvage whatever is left of his humanity. But a lot of things have changed in the last millennium and Malina finds herself becoming someone new. Someone wicked.
1. Chapter 1

**Welcome, dear reader, to my new TVD fanfic. **

**This story will mainly center the witch Malina and most chapters will be from her P.O.V. or third person. There will be multiple pairings including Klaroline, Mabekah and Kalijah. More pairings will be mentioned or appear as I write. The story will more or less follow season three of TVD and then continue into another storyline from there. **

**Needless to say that I do not own The Vampire Diaries.**

**I hope you'll enjoy it!**

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><p><em>Trigger warning: This chapter contains mentions of violence and abuse<em>

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><p><strong><em>Malina's P.O.V.<em>**

"I do not have time for this, Kol!" I called as I quickly walked through the village with the Mikaelson brother on my heels. I kept my head down and looked to the ground as I felt some of the villagers stare at me and I already feared the trouble I was in if this indiscretion was seen by the wrong people.

"What could possibly be so important that you do not have time for me? As I recall it, you did not want me to leave you alone last night." Kol whispered into my ear seductively as he walked right behind me and I felt myself blush deeply. I also noticed how more prying eyes were now upon us and I spun around and faced Kol with a stern look in my eyes.

"I have to go home to my _husband_. Now leave me alone." I told him with a high voice, making sure that everyone within range could hear me. An unsatisfied expression crossed Kol's features and I had to physically stop myself from not reaching up and smooth out the frown on his forehead.

"Kol! Mother needs you!" Another voice rang and I turned my head to see Niklaus coming towards us from the Mikaelsons' home; creating a relieved smile on my lips. An irritated glare was fixed on Kol as the older Mikaelson brother came closer and with one last look at me, Kol walked down the path Niklaus had just come from.

"What did my brother do this time?" Niklaus asked worriedly and I sent him a reassuring smile to ease his irritation.

"Nothing! Well, he did follow me all the way from the well, but I don't mind. I am just worried what my husband will say if he hears about it." I answered truthfully and glanced at the villagers, who no longer seemed as interested in what was going on between me and the man-who-was-not-my-husband.

"Let me deal with your husband if my brother causes any more troubles." Niklaus told me and took the buckets filled with water from my hands as we proceeded to walk towards my hut.

"Please, do not engage him, Nik. I cannot lose you in some silly fight over your brother." I pleaded with a hushed voice and resisted my urge to touch his arm. He was my best friend and I could never survive losing him after everything that had happened.

"You believe I would lose? I am offended by your lack of trust, Mal." Niklaus said jokingly with a smirk on his lips and put down the buckets on the ground, when we reached my home. Niklaus was smiling at me, showing his adorable dimples to the world, but I could also see the worry in his eyes and I quickly diverted our conversation.

"What are your plans for this evening? Another late-night-walk with Tatia?" I asked and sent him a teasing smile at the mention of his love, but I was only met by a pair of cold eyes that shocked me greatly. Niklaus had never looked at me in such a way and I instinctively took a step backwards as if I was backing away from a dangerous animal.

"I haven't seen her for a couple of days now. I believe Tatia has found herself a new favorite this week." Niklaus told me and a hurt expression crossed his face, making me step forward again and take his hand. How could Tatia not see what she was doing to both brothers and to the whole family? Even though I never spoke of it, I had no care for the girl who repeatedly had caused the sad look Niklaus had in his eyes this moment.

"I am sorry, Nik. Love is a heartbreaking feeling." I said in a comforting tone and gently squeezed his hand, making a small smile appear on his lips.

"But I do have plans for the night." Niklaus then told me and I lifted my eyebrows in question, when I saw the mischievous gleam in his eyes that could only mean trouble.

"It is the full moon tonight, Nik." I warned, but that only made his smile become wider.

"I know. I am going to see the men change into wolves." he said and I felt the sudden urge to slap some sense into him.

"Niklaus! You could get hurt! And what good will you do me in shreds?" I exclaimed alarmingly and received a suspicious glare from the neighbor's wife.

"I will be careful." Niklaus promised, but it didn't calm me down and an unsettling feeling spread in my stomach; the one I always felt when something bad was about to happen.

"Please, don't go into the woods, Nik. I fear something horrible will become you." I begged, but to no avail as Niklaus just took my hand and placed a short kiss on it before he walked away from me and towards his own home.

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><p>I never imagined that I could once again suffer from such heartache as I did when I heard the screams that rang at dawn and I ran from my house to be met by the sight of my crying friend, who was hunched over his dead little brother.<p>

"_No._" I whispered as I fell to my knees, crumbled by the grief that overtook me in mere seconds. More cries filled the air as Rebekah threw herself to the ground, clinging to Niklaus for dear life, who was as broken as I had ever seen him and I barely noticed my mother rush past me and towards the Mikaelson family.

When a couple of hands roughly pulled me to my feet, I let them and without much thought I clung to my husband's shirt to not lose my balance once more. The expression on his face was cold and the arms around me not soothing, but all I could do was to fight my instincts to run to them.

I wanted to hug Niklaus until his crying stopped and he felt no more grief, as impossible as that sounded. And I wanted to remove the heartbroken expression on Kol's face that I knew would hunt me for the rest of my days. I wanted to take Elijah's hands in mine and assure him that everything was going to be okay, even though it wasn't and to calm my hands through Rebekah's hair until she was screaming no more. I would even talk to Finn, who had always been cold towards me, just to ease the shock from his face and back to its calm façade.

But I couldn't; not in front of my husband and I felt myself shatter into a thousand pieces as my old grief returned tenfold. For a moment I thought Esther's screams were my own as I relived the pain of what it was like to lose a child. I met my mother's eyes through my tears and with a simple motion of the hand, she ushered my husband to take me away.

As I was dragged away from the macabre scene, I finally found my voice and without thinking of the consequences; I screamed for him. I screamed for my friend, who looked at me with wide sorrowful eyes and as I reached out a source of energy escaped me, making the big white oak tree sway in the sudden gust of wind.

I yelped in pain, when I hit the hard ground inside our home and fear made my body shiver as I saw the deranged look in my husband's eyes. I tried to move away from him by pulling me backwards with my hands, but he yanked me back by my feet and straddled me forcefully, making it impossible for me to move.

"How dare you embarrass me in such a way?" he hissed at me with wild eyes and I felt his saliva on my face. "I warned you about ever using witchcraft. And now you are of no worth to me, just like your daughter."

Forgetting all fear for my own life, I spit in his face and the next moment his fist connected with my face.

As the day passed by, pain seemed to become the only feeling I had ever known and when the evening came I had stopped fighting back as I waited for my life to end. From the things my mother had told me about medicine; I knew I was bleeding internal and it was only a matter of time before my conscience would fade from this world.

My husband had left, giving me some moments of peace, when the door to our home opened and I heard someone inhale sharply as they quickly moved to my side on the ground. I fought to open my eyes as a couple of gentle hands searched my body and face for the injuries I had suffered and relief spread through my body, when I saw the woman who had given birth to me sit beside me.

"Mother." I managed to whisper as a tear escaped the corner of my eye and I heard a suppressed sob come from her mouth.

"My dear child. What has he done to you?" my mother silently cried and I felt a small relief of pain, when her healing magic passed through me. But we both knew it wasn't enough to save me. My mother was a strong witch, even stronger than Esther Mikaelson, but it was nearly impossible to heal all of my injuries in time and the chance of missing the smallest tear or bleeding within me was great.

"How are they?" I whispered with a hoarse voice and a confused expression settled on Ayana's face as she looked into her daughter's tearful eyes. "Niklaus, Kol, everyone."

My mother's confused look disappeared from her eyes and a more worried one took over, making my heart clench painfully. Then her eyes widened in revelation as if she had thought of something important and she quickly rose from her spot, making me miss the warmth of her touch.

"The spell." my mother murmured to herself and without more explanation she threw her shawl over my cold body and exited the hut with great hurry. Fear settled within me once again as I waited for my mother's return and when I finally heard his voice, my breath hitched in my throat.

"I don't understand." Niklaus spoke as he followed my mother towards my home.

"What your parents have done to you and your siblings has consequences. It will both give you power and weaknesses, but for now I need your blood for my daughter." my mother told him in a hushed voice as she proceeded to open the door to where I was laying and walked inside.

"Mal?" Niklaus voice called out from the doorway and I watched how he seemed to be stuck on the other side of the door. He was clearly shocked by my state and I could see how desperate he was trying to reach me even though he seemingly couldn't.

"What happened to her?" Niklaus then growled and I flinched at the sound of his harsh tone.

"That is not of importance at the moment." my mother told him as she once again placed her hands on me and healed a scratch on my cheek. "Niklaus, she is bleeding so you must control yourself. Now, ask him to come inside, Malina."

"Come in." I whispered to him and I almost squealed when he was with me within a second, surprising himself, my mother and I. He gently placed a hand on my cheek, but I quickly leaned away from him, when I saw the veins that suddenly appeared under his eyes.

"Niklaus! Control yourself!" my mother ordered and I saw the horrified look on his face as he lifted his hand to feel the protruding veins on his face. "Give me your hand."

Niklaus slowly reached out his hand towards my mother, still shocked by what was happening to him and he barely noticed when my mother withdrew a knife from her skirts and found a cup by the fireplace in the middle of the hut. Before I could warn him or stop my mother, she had cut into Niklaus' wrist and blood was pouring into the cup she had found.

"What are you doing?" Niklaus asked feebly without reacting to the pain that had to come with such a cut.

"I am saving my daughter." my mother said determinedly and took the cup from under Niklaus' wrist as the blood stopped dripping. We both stared at his now healed skin in astonishment and suddenly my head was lifted to my mother's lap as she placed the cup of blood against my lips.

"Drink." she ordered impatiently and I looked at her and Niklaus with uncertainty before I parted my lips and let the first drop of blood touch my tongue. I cringed my nose in disgust at the taste, but I was forced to drink almost half of it before my mother removed the cup.

Niklaus and my mother stared at me in amazement as my scratches and injuries began healing and I took a deep breath, when my broken ribs healed as well, almost making me laugh at the sensation.

"What is happening here?" an angry voice yelled from the door and the relief I had felt disappeared immediately as I saw my husband enter with an enraged look in his eyes. Niklaus' head snapped towards the sound and I watched how he slowly rose from the ground; like an animal ready to hunt its prey.

"You did this to her." I heard him growl and I tried to reach for my friend, but he had already moved away, standing in front of my husband with a dangerous look on his face.

I screamed in fright, when Niklaus suddenly launched at my husband, but it drowned in the horrified yelps that came from my punisher, when Niklaus teeth pierced his skin and they tumbled out of the hut. I tried to get up from where I was laying, but my mother held me in place with an iron grip and all I could do was listen to my husband die as my friend drained him of his blood.

When a deathly silence suddenly filled the air, I felt my mother's grip loosen and I was at the door before she could stop me. Niklaus was standing with his back to me breathing heavily and on the ground in front of him laid my husband; his neck mauled by whatever Niklaus had done to him.

I heard a sickening crack as Niklaus screamed in pain and fell to the ground; his shoulder pointing in an unnatural angle. My mother pulled me back before I managed to run to my fallen friend, whose bones started breaking; one after one.

"Niklaus!" Elijah shouted as he suddenly came running towards his brother, but he was stopped by their father before he managed to reach him.

"What have you done, boy?!" Mikael's voice boomed as he stood in front of his son, looking at the dead body of my husband in disgust. Niklaus' bones kept breaking and continuous cries of pain escaped him.

"Father, please, help me." Niklaus begged in between his screams and both Elijah and I struggled against our parents to reach him.

"Look at him!" Mikael yelled at Elijah, who stopped in his tracks to listen to his brother's sudden roar. I couldn't see what was happening as Niklaus still had his back to me, but the sight clearly frightened Elijah.

"He is a monster, an abomination." Mikael spat venomously and tears filled my eyes, when I saw the pure hatred in Mikael's stare. "Grab him!"

My screams mixed with Niklaus' pleas as Mikael and Elijah grabbed my friend and dragged him away with much struggle. My mother clamped a hand over my mouth to silence me and dragged me inside my hut as several of the villagers exited their homes, running to my dead husband on the ground with horror on their faces.

"No, mother! I have to help him!" I cried as she pulled me down on a bench and cradled me in her arms.

"You can do nothing for him, Malina." my mother told me firmly and I slowly managed to control my sobs.

"What is happening to him?" I asked with a low voice and the shock of all that had happened finally hit me.

"Esther put a spell on her children. She made them immortal. I warned her but she would not listen." my mother told me and I heard both anger and sorrow in her voice. "But Niklaus he… Mikael is not Niklaus' true father. Niklaus' father is one of the wolfmen and when he killed Jason, he triggered that side of him."

I stared at my mother in shock, unable to understand how my life had changed so rapidly in such a way.

"What will happen to him?" I asked slowly, horror spreading through my veins as I reimagined Niklaus' fear and the hateful expression on Mikael's face. When my mother didn't answer, I thought I had spoken too silently and I started repeating my question.

I was interrupted when she suddenly removed her arms from around me and stood up, making me shudder from the sudden lack of heat beside me. She had a thoughtful expression on her face and I stared at her patiently; waiting for her to share her thoughts.

"I must leave." she told me instead and I felt my stomach drop.

"Please, mother. Don't leave me here alone." I begged and the tears started streaming down my face once more as I hugged myself in attempt to find warmth.

"I will be back soon, but there is something that I must do. I will make this right, do you understand?" she said as she crouched in front of me, throwing a sheepskin over my shoulders with a reassuring smile on her lips. A small hope grew inside me and I quickly nodded as I dried the tears from my cheeks.

"Now, you must drink and eat as much as possible until I come back. You will need all of your strength." my mother then told me as she gave me a cup of water and found some food that was my husband's leftovers.

I greedily emptied the cup and started eating the meat on my plate, only then remembering that I hadn't gotten anything to eat since the night before. Niklaus' blood had made me feel strong and healthy again, but it hadn't taken away my hunger. I had barely even noticed that my mother had left or how dark the room had become, while I had eaten.

I got up from the bench and moved to the fireplace, where I managed to start a fire that quickly lit up the room and helped me regain warmth. I had no idea how much time had gone by, when my mother finally returned as I had been lost in thought but as soon as I saw the urgent look in my mother's eyes I sprung from my place at the fire and ran to her.

"Mother, what has happened?" I asked concernedly as I noticed her distress. Slowly, she took my hands and looked at me with sorrowful eyes.

"I fear…" she trailed off and I felt my heart break yet again as I thought of the worst.

"Fear what?" I urged, impatient to hear the rest of the sentence.

"I fear the consequences of Esther's actions. They will bring darkness to the future. People will suffer greatly." my mother told me with a dire look on her face and I felt myself shiver at her words. "I need your help, Malina. You must help me prevent what is to come."

"How? I am nothing." I said and looked to the ground in shame. I had my mother's powers, but after my marriage I hadn't been allowed to use them and I feared that they had disappeared completely.

"You will be the most powerful witch in existence, my child. You are your mother's daughter, just remember that." my mother told me as she cupped my face comfortingly. Even though I didn't believe her words, I nodded timidly and my mother smiled at me lovingly.

"What must I do?" I then asked determinedly and I watched as my mother found her grimoire and a small white stone from the bag she was carrying over her shoulder.

"A curse has been placed on Niklaus. It will lay his wolf side dormant and make sure that Niklaus Mikaelson will never be truly invincible. But it will also start a hunt. A hunt for more power that only will stop the day he breaks the curse or someone manages to kill him." my mother quickly told me and I felt my eyes widen in shock. Why would anyone ever need to kill Niklaus? He was my best friend and I could never imagine him hurting anyone on purpose.

"But mother, I don't understand. Who would want to kill Niklaus?" I asked weakly, not fully understanding what the curse meant or why Niklaus would be invincible without it.

"I know what you think of Niklaus, but time will change him… and his siblings. Humanity is a fragile thing and when you become what the Mikaelsons have become; one might lose it easily. You must prevent it." she told me warily and I couldn't hide the confusion and frustration that shone in my eyes.

"How? You told me they were immortal. I will die soon enough and then I won't be able to prevent anything." I replied dejectedly as I watched my mother create a necklace with the small white stone as a pendant and then pick up the cup that still contained some of Niklaus' blood.

"The curse placed on Niklaus was bound by an object; the moon stone. Before I offered it to Esther, I took a small piece of it and reshaped the other part so no one would know." my mother explained without answering my question and held the small pendant in front of me.

"We will cast a spell that binds this part of the stone to the curse and you. It will put you in a deep sleep and awaken you again if the curse is ever broken. You must wear the necklace at all times because with it comes your full power and eternal youth. But thread carefully because you can be killed like any other human being."

"What if the curse is never broken? What if Niklaus is killed before it can happen?" I asked after taking a minute to let my mother's words sink in. My voice was almost a whisper as the thought of my friend's dead was almost unbearable to me and I felt my knees grow weaker by the second.

"Then you will die. Your life will be bound to Niklaus'. If he is killed, then you will be as well. But do not fear my child, because with death comes peace." my mother told me gently and I noticed how her eyes became wet at the thought of my death.

'Then let me die' I almost said, 'let me have peace'. But I couldn't do that to her. I could not throw away the gift she had given me by giving birth to me. Instead I nodded and watched her smile at me through tearful eyes.

When Ayana suddenly withdrew a knife from her bag – the one that had cut into Niklaus – I knew what she was about to do and I clenched my teeth together in pain as the blade split the palm of my hand, making my blood mix with Niklaus' in the cup. I was surprised when she drew blood from herself as well, but she explained that it was like a blood sacrifice to ensure that the spell wouldn't break, when she someday died.

Carefully I followed my mother's instructions and held the cup over the open fire. My eyes became teary because of the smoke and my skin began to burn painfully from the heat of the flames. My mother stood across from me with her grimoire in one hand and chained pendant in the other, which she dipped into the cup as she started chanting.

When my mother finished her part of the spell, I began mine and the fire lit up as the flames grew higher. My mother had bound my blood to hers and given me the eternal youth, but I had bind myself to Niklaus and the moonstone for it to work.

My throat was dry and painful blisters were forming on my arm, where the flames almost licked my skin, but I didn't retract my arm before I had finally spoken the last word and my mother removed the pendant from the cup. The first thing my mother did was to hang the pendant around my neck and I felt how power surged through me, making me feel more alive than I had done in years.

I looked down at my burned skin and after a moment of concentration; most of the pain was gone. I then took the pendant between my fingers and was surprised to see that it had become red; like blood. The cup that had fallen to the ground was empty, but no blood had spilt from it.

I could feel the magic pulse through my fingers as I touched the smooth surface of pendant and a content smile spread on my lips as I finally felt at home again. I was a witch and that was what I was born to be. It took me a moment to remember why I was feeling so elated and my smile fell again as the thought of Niklaus and his family appeared in my mind.

"What will happen now?" I asked warily as I kept twirling the pendant between my fingers. It was like a part of me already and I could feel its power run through my veins, growing stronger with every minute.

"Now you must sleep. I will secure the safety of your body and nothing shall hurt you until you wake up. Your sleep will be dreamless and you will not feel time. A century will pass you by like a blink of an eye." my mother explained as her hand caressed my cheek lovingly.

"You think I will have to wait that long?" I said unbelievingly. What if the world came to an end before then? I remembered once hearing one of my mother's old friends talk about the faith of humanity and how it would soon come to an end. Ayana had brushed it off, when I had asked about it; telling me that I shouldn't worry.

"I do not know, Malina." was all my mother said and I sighed heavily, readying myself for what was to come.

"What of Julia and Thomas?" I asked with a worried voice as I thought of my young cousins, who I would never see again.

"When the time is right they will know what we have done and accept their responsibility of continuing our bloodline so you never will be lost. They will protect your body after I am gone, just like their children and grandchildren will." my mother told me with a grave voice as she looked me in the eyes and I nodded in understanding.

"Goodbye, mother." I then said as I wrapped my arms around her neck and took in the familiar scent of her; herbs and smoke. "I will miss you."

"Goodbye, dear. May the spirits be with you." Ayana whispered into my ear and I felt how tears filled my eyes as I struggled to keep them open. As darkness overwhelmed me I felt myself being lowered to the ground and I slowly took the pendant in my hand, letting myself being pulled into a deep slumber.

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><p><strong>AN: So what do you think? Good, bad, horrible? **


	2. Chapter 2

**The response I got on the first chapter was overwhelming, you guys! Thank you so much! I hope you'll continue to like the story. We're now skipping a thousand years ahead to the timeline of season three. Hope everything makes sense and if it doesn't, it will later.**

**To the guest who decided to make an elaborate review of my grammar flaws: Was it really that bad? Did it completely ruin your understanding of the story? English is not my first language, but if I should say so myself I'm quite good at it. If you have something to say then at least comment on the story. Or create an user so I know who is being a dick to me. I have nothing against critism, but that review just annoyed the hell out of me. **

**Rant over! Toodles!**

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><p><em><strong>Malina's P.O.V.<strong>_

_Somewhere in Illinois, 2010_

When the pendant hit the map with a thud; a satisfied grin spread on my face and I quickly put my necklace back on, already feeling slightly weaker without it. I quickly packed my few belongings in a bag and ran out of my motel room, barely shutting the door behind me.

I paid for my room at the reception and asked the man behind the desk to call a taxi for me. My fingers drummed on the wooden desk impatiently as I waited and I earned an irritated glare from the receptionist. When my ride arrived outside, I bolted out the door with a quick 'thank you' and seconds later I was on my way to a place called 'Chicago'.

I loved to drive, even though I couldn't do it myself, but I found it exhilarating to just sit and watch the world fly by; faster than I would have ever imagined possible. At the moment, though, I had a hard time concentrating on the wonders of the new world as my thoughts revolved around something else entirely. Or rather someone else.

It had been a little more than two months since I had woken up in my casket and slowly crawled out, only to be almost shocked to death when a person had stepped out of a dark corner in the mausoleum to help me. I was embarrassed to admit that I had fainted, when I had been informed that a millennium had passed since I last saw daylight and my pulse had been elevated for days after as I took in this new world.

The woman who had been waiting for me, Emma, was a descendant from my bloodline and when I finally had managed to stop hyperventilating; she had explained how my story and body had been passed on through generations, while they all waited for Niklaus to break his curse.

When Emma had been told by her informants that the curse possibly would be lifted that full moon; she had waited for my awakening in the mausoleum, ready to explain everything to me so that I actually wouldn't die of shock when I saw how everything had changed.

It had taken me a month to fully adjust, even though there still was a lot to learn and understand. Emma had then insisted that I used another month to fully learn the extent of my powers before I went out and found the most powerful creature in the world. She had tried to tell me the horror stories of Klaus (as he supposedly was called these days), but I had barely listened.

I knew that I was being biased, but he was still my friend and in my perspective it had only been two months since I last had seen him, so the picture I had of him was still unstained. After the two months had passed, Emma had finally agreed to let me loose and my search for Niklaus had begun.

I had stayed in multiple motel rooms and driven kilometer after kilometer in taxis, but I wasn't giving up any time soon. Money was no problem as someone down the road had decided to create a so-called trust fund for me that every generation had given money to.

It had taken me almost a week to understand the concept of money and when I finally did, I didn't want them as there was more than I could ever spent. But apparently you couldn't do anything without those pieces of paper and in the end I had reluctantly agreed to take some of the money.

I absentmindedly played with the red pendant on my chest as I looked out the car window, watching all the cars go by at incredible speed. When we finally drove into Chicago and the high buildings began towering over us, my pulse quickened and a wide smile spread on my lips.

As my nervousness overwhelmed me, I began wondering if I was wearing the right clothes and whether Niklaus would even recognize me. The jeans on my legs felt tight as always and I still hadn't gotten used to the idea of wearing them. I was wearing a plain black top and a burgundy-colored cotton cardigan over it.

One of the things Emma had taught me about being a twenty-first century woman was walking in heels and she had managed to find a pair of so-called wedge-heeled sandals that I could easily walk in. But now I feared it was too much. I wasn't trying to impress Niklaus in any way, but would he offended by me when I as a woman walked around in trousers as a man?

Emma had assured me multiple times that it was in fact women's clothing that I was wearing and I had seen many others my age wear the same thing, but that didn't stop me from still feeling uncomfortable.

"Miss?" the taxi driver called impatiently and I snapped out of my thoughts to see that we had arrived at a dark parking lot outside the building I had asked to be taken to. My heart started beating even more rapidly as I paid the driver and stepped out of the car.

I quickly walked towards the building that my locator spell had told me Niklaus was in and barely noticed the young man and woman, who was standing among the cars and talking. Hesitantly I opened the entrance door, even though the sign said 'closed' and walked in. I placed my bag at a table and walked further into the bar that was empty except for two persons.

A man with short dark blonde curls where holding a black haired man by the throat and I heard a sickening crack as something inside his neck broke. The man who was strangling him was holding something in his other hand and the black-haired man grunted in pain as he was stabbed with the small object.

"No, that's not it…" the torturer said with feigned frustration and I moved a little closer, when I heard the familiar accent. Neither of them had noticed me and I froze completely when the blonde man spoke again. I knew that voice.

"Almost…" Niklaus sneered as he stabbed the other man once more and my head was spinning out of control as I watched my old friend torture another person.

"You want a partner in crime? Forget Stefan, I'm so much more fun." the other man told Niklaus as he was still being choked and my eyes widened in shock over the man's cockiness. That was another thing about this time period that had me baffled; everyone were always so sarcastic.

A scream almost left me as Niklaus suddenly threw the other man across some tables, turning them into a pile of wood beneath him and I watched as Niklaus broke of a leg from one of the chairs and walked over to the man on the floor.

"You won't be any fun after you're dead." Niklaus told him casually and raised the wooden stake to impale the other man.

Not willing to let Niklaus kill anyone, I snapped my fingers and the wooden stake in his hand caught on fire, making him throw it to the floor.

"Really?" Niklaus asked annoyingly and looked up in frustration as he turned his head towards the barmaid, who had just entered the room.

"Take it outside, Klaus." the dark-skinned woman told him and then looked at me with both confusion and admiration in her eyes.

The man on the floor, who had just avoided his death by a few centimeters, lifted his head from the floor, but was pushed back down by Niklaus, who apparently thought the barmaid had cast the spell. Great, another witch.

"You don't have to negotiate your brother's freedom, when I'm done with him he don't wanna go back." Niklaus then told the man; his voice almost too low for me to hear. Slowly, Niklaus stood up from the floor and I was surprised he didn't feel my eyes burn into his back.

"So, a witch walks into a bar and says to the bartender-" I started, when my patience ran out but I was immediately cut off by the barmaid's laughing.

"Those jokes are never funny, sweetheart." she told me pointedly, but I was glad she had stopped me as I didn't remember the punch line. It was a joke that Emma had once taught me, but I never actually found it funny.

"Mal?" a deep voice suddenly asked and I turned my attention back to Niklaus, who was staring at me with wide eyes. I smiled at him as I tilted my head slightly to the right and let my eyes glide over him; taking in everything that was different from the last time I had seen him.

Except for another haircut, the stubbles around his mouth and a change of clothes; he looked the same. But there was still something fundamentally different. Even though his eyes were wide with shock; they still seemed cold and the usually teasing tone in his voice was gone and had become more sinister.

"Hello Niklaus." I spoke tenderly and widened my smile to a cheerful one, even though it felt forced. Niklaus looked at me for a long moment without saying a word and when he suddenly stood right in front of me, I took a step back in surprise.

Behind Niklaus was the other man pulling himself of the floor and I met his curious gaze for a second before he was almost pushed out of the bar by the witch. When the dark-skinned woman returned, Niklaus still hadn't said a thing as he just kept staring at me; studying every inch of me and the witch gave me a quick nod before she left the room as well.

"Nik, please say something. You know I don't do silence very well." I told him; my impatience getting the better of me. When he still didn't speak, I slowly lifted my hand to touch his cheek, but he grabbed my wrist before I could get too close.

"How?" Niklaus finally asked hoarsely and I noticed the tears that rimmed his blue eyes. Carefully, I pulled my wrist out of his grip and then reached up, wrapping my arms around his neck and pulling him towards me. His body was stiff and unresponsive, but after a moment I felt his arms around my waist and my feet lifted from the floor, when he stood up straight; his grip of me tightening further.

"My mother." I mumbled into the air, not sure if Niklaus was even aware that I had spoken. Slowly, he put me down and removed his arms from around me. A grief-stricken look was on his face as he looked down on me and I reached up, wiping away the single tear that had found its way down his cheek.

This was the Niklaus I knew. The man who had been my friend and always would be.

"I thought you were dead." he then told me as I pulled him towards the bar and made him sit on a stool, while I walked over behind the bar to find something to drink. I had only tasted alcohol a few times and so far it hadn't been to my liking, which meant that I had no idea what I was doing when I picked a bottle from the shelf and poured it into a small glass.

"I was only sleeping." I told him with a small smile on my face and pushed the liquor towards him, urging him to drink it. He looked at the clear content for a moment before he downed it and I watched how the corners of his mouth turned down in disgust.

"Could you possibly give me something that isn't cheap vodka, love?" Niklaus asked as he let the shot glass slide back over the bar towards me.

"Since when did you begin to call people for 'love'?" I asked, surprised by his use of the endearment; something I had never heard him use when he was human.

"I don't know. I think it was around the seventeen hundreds." he shrugged and downed the next shot I gave him, which seemed to be more to his liking. "What exactly do you mean by 'sleep', Malina?"

"The night when… you know, everything went wrong; my mother and I did a spell that connected me to you and the hybrid curse. My mother put me in a slumber that I would wake from the day you broke the curse. Unless you died, then I would die as well. I still will actually." I explained and took a shot myself, earning an amused grin from Niklaus, when I began coughing.

"And why would you and your mother do such a thing?" Niklaus asked suspiciously and once again I felt like it was a stranger sitting in front of me. His eyes had narrowed slightly and the smile left his lips as he stared at me.

"Because of that." I answered pointedly and gestured towards his face, confusing him for a moment before his eyes grew cold. "I awoke the day you became the most powerful creature in the world, because from that day you would need me. You have lost your humanity, have you not?"

I was suddenly angry at the man sitting in front of me and I didn't care about the rage that overtook his features before he suddenly stood beside me by the bar; staring down at me.

"Careful, sweetheart. I am not the man I used to be; a millennium has passed and I've become stronger. People are afraid of me now and not the other way around. You can go back to sleep because I don't want you here. And I most certainly don't need you." Niklaus sneered and I felt my resolution crumble.

"You are wrong, Niklaus. As long as you use fear to control others you will always be weak. And if you want rid of me, you will have to kill me." I replied coldly and returned his icy glare with a lifted chin.

"Perhaps I should." he threatened and stared at me angrily before his eyes dropped to the floor for a second. I held back the sigh of relief as I called his bluff inside my head and I softened the expression on my face as my dark eyes met his light ones.

"You are my friend, Nik, and I know you. You can never make me give up on you, just as you cannot kill me." I told him quietly and hoped that he would finally listen to me. Talking to Niklaus had always been easy, but now it seemed like he weighed every word I said as if to decide whether or not I was being sincere. His paranoia hurt me more than I cared to admit but my expression remained stoic as I awaited his answer.

"Since when did you become so stubborn?" Niklaus then asked and a smile appeared in the corner of his mouth. I felt my body relax once more and jumped to the bar, where I leaned backwards on my hands as I crossed my legs. I noticed how his eyes quickly glided down my body, making me blush and look away from him.

"I have always been this stubborn. You were just better at listening. Well, most of the time." I replied with a half-smile on my lips and sadness overwhelmed me shortly as I thought about the last time Niklaus hadn't listened to my warnings.

Both our heads snapped to the side, when a door opened and a man stepped into the bar and walked towards us. He stopped as soon as he saw me and the seemingly worried expression on his face was overtaken by confusion. He was handsome with his green eyes, strong jaw and light brown hair that was arranged in a way I never would have found possible until Emma taught me about hair products.

"Welcome back, mate." Niklaus greeted and gestured for the man to sit on one of the barstools as he found three glasses – larger than the shot glasses I had found – and poured a golden liquid into it. He made a point of showing the bottle to me and I rolled my eyes at his attempt to be funny. Niklaus slit one glass to the man with the funny hair and gave the other one to me, making me frown at the content.

"We had a visit from your brother while you were out." Niklaus told the man casually and I noticed him watch the other man's reaction intently.

"Damon was here?" the man asked disbelievingly and his eyebrows furrowed in the middle, creating a frown on his forehead that almost made me laugh.

"He is lucky to be alive. If it hadn't been for this little witch, I would have killed him." Niklaus replied with a shrug and gestured towards me. I glared at him to show my disapproval of his nonchalant tone of voice and then turned my attention to Damon's brother, who was yet to touch his drink.

"Thank you." the brother told me silently and I gave him a small nod.

I looked back at Niklaus, who had a thoughtful expression on his face and I absentmindedly took a large sip of my drink. The taste of it was horrendous and I quickly spit it back into the glass with a horrified look on my face. When I heard Niklaus chuckle, I glared at him vengefully, which only made him laugh more.

"What is this?!" I exclaimed indignantly and sniffed the golden liquid; bringing a disgusted look to my face.

"It's scotch. You just have to learn to drink it." Niklaus told me with an amused smile on his lips and drank from his own glass.

"I don't want to learn. You drink it." I told him and held out the glass towards him.

"You spit into that!"

"So? Are you afraid of the cooties?" I teased and heard Damon's brother laugh silently beside me, making Niklaus glare at him.

"If you don't want it, then pour into the sink." Niklaus told me and nodded towards a sink that could be seen from behind the bar.

"I cannot just waste this! This is very expensive, is it not?"

"Then drink it, Mal! I'm not doing it for you."

"But the taste of it is atrocious."

Suddenly the glass was taken out of my hand and its content poured into the sink by a very annoyed hybrid.

"There, love. That wasn't hard, was it now?" Niklaus asked mockingly and a scowl set on my face.

"Call me 'love' one more time and I will make you regret it." I warned him with narrow eyes and I was surprised to see the wicked grin that spread on his lips.

"That's right. I don't remember you having the power to set things on fire or do much else than create a small wind." Niklaus said with an interested look in his eyes and I could almost see the wheels spinning inside his head as he went through all the new opportunities my powers could give him.

"Am I missing something here?" the brother suddenly said from his stool and noticed the slightly frustrated look in his eyes as he tried to piece together the puzzle.

"I am so sorry for my impoliteness." I quickly apologized and reached out my hand for him to take. "I am Malina Ayanason."

"Stefan Salvatore. And how do you two know each other?" Stefan asked curiously and I glanced back at Niklaus, not sure what he wanted Stefan to know. He did just try to kill his brother, after all.

"We go way back." Niklaus answered with a sly smile on his face and I returned my attention towards Stefan, whose eyes were shifting between us.

"So you two were together or something?" Stefan asked confusedly and pointed between the two of us, bringing horrified expressions to our faces.

"No!" we both answered at the same time and Stefan looked taken aback by our apparent unwillingness to be connected in such a way.

"Nik is like a brother to me. I would never think of him in such a way." I explained the surprised Salvatore vampire. It wasn't hard for me to feel the changed aura around him that told me he was one of undead.

"And you're a witch? So you've just kept yourself alive like Gloria has done?" Stefan questioned and watched how his eyes studied my face until they dropped to the pendant on my chest.

"Gloria?" I asked confusingly and looked at Niklaus for an answer. I had an idea of what Stefan was asking about, but decided to keep my 'tricks' to myself. How was I going to explain that I had slept for a thousand years without him thinking I was half crazy?

"The witch who owns this bar. She wasn't too fond of your attempted humour." Niklaus explained and then emptied the rest of his glass and put it on the counter. "I think it's time go see if Bekah is awake."

"Rebekah is here?" I asked, feeling slightly torn between being happy and nervous of seeing her again. I had been friends with Rebekah back when she was human, but I had always only been able to take her in small doses as she otherwise would annoy me to death.

"You know Rebekah as well?" Stefan then asked as we got up from our places and followed Niklaus out of the bar. I looked at him for a long moment before I nodded and then walked quickly ahead of him before he could ask any more questions.

I grabbed my bag from the table I had placed it on and threw into the back of Niklaus' car before I jumped in after it. A few minutes later we were in front of a big warehouse and Niklaus told us to stay back as we went inside. Stefan and I stepped into the warehouse after him, but stayed at the door and I heard Niklaus call out for his sister.

"Rebekah? It's your big brother… Come out, come out, wherever you are." Niklaus sang and the next thing I heard was Rebekah sneering at him.

"Go to hell, Nik."

I felt my pendant warm up against my skin and I began walking further inside as I had learned what that meant; Niklaus was hurt. A hand on my shoulder stopped me and I looked back to see Stefan shaking his head at me. I sighed dejectedly and then took a small step back; relieved when I heard Niklaus' voice echo through the warehouse again.

"Don't pout; you knew it wouldn't kill me." Niklaus told his sister calmly.

"No, but I was hoping it would hurt more." Rebekah retorted and I heard their steps move closer to where we were standing.

"I understand that you are upset with me, Rebekah. So I'm gonna let that go, just this once. I brought you a little peace offering." Niklaus told her as the sounds of their steps died down and he called out. "You can come in."

At first I thought Niklaus was talking to me, but when Stefan moved past me and walked towards the sound of Niklaus' voice slowly; I realized that Stefan was the supposed peace offering. I followed silently and stood by one of the tall shelves nearby from where I could see the others without being seen. Niklaus' eyes met mine for a short moment as if to let me know that he knew I was there.

Rebekah was dressed in a white dress with a glittering skirt, but a dark red stain by her heart made me frown. What exactly had Niklaus meant by Rebekah 'waking up'?

As Stefan stepped into sight, a happy and surprised expression appeared on Rebekah's face and his name escaped her lips. Before anyone could say more Niklaus walked to Stefan in long strides, placed a hand on his shoulder and looked him directly in the eyes as he spoke.

"Now, you remember."

I watched how Stefan's eyes widened for a moment before he closed them and Niklaus moved to stand behind him, shooting me a quick glance. I was more than confused by what was happening, but I figured that Niklaus had once made him forget something and when Stefan reopened his eyes; a look of recognition was in his eyes.

"Rebekah." Stefan spoke softly and he began slowly moving towards Niklaus' sister, who looked to be on the verge of crying.

"Stefan." Niklaus then called silently, making Stefan spin around to look at him. I almost wanted to smack Niklaus for ruining their moment, but I remained in the shadows. I would face Rebekah after this whole 'Stefan'-thing was over.

"I remember you. We were friends." Stefan almost whispered and a shocked expression was on his face.

"We are friends." Niklaus told him with a smile as he moved forward and placed a hand on Stefan's shoulder.

"And now to the reason that you are here." Niklaus continued as he looked at Rebekah and moved past Stefan towards his sister. "Gloria tells me you know how to contact the Original witch."

"The Original witch?" Rebekah asked incredulously and I slowly moved from the shadows to better hear what they were saying. I had never heard of an Original witch and neither did it look like Stefan had as he stood by and watched the siblings in confusion.

"Do you have what Gloria needs?" Niklaus asked impatiently; his tone annoyed and I watched Rebekah's hand move to where a necklace should have supposedly been. Her eyes grew wide, when she found it missing and she looked down in shock.

"Where is my necklace? What did you do with it? I never take it off!" she asked with a distressed voice.

"I don't know. I didn't touch it." Niklaus replied dully, not caring about the loss of his sister's necklace.

"We need to find it, Nik." Rebekah said with a raised voice and I watched Niklaus' body tense when he understood the implications.

"Tell me that is not what she needs." Niklaus almost yelled, but Rebekah just talked over him.

"I want it back!"

"Tell me that's not what she needs, Rebekah!" Niklaus yelled and grabbed Rebekah's shoulder, making me step into the light and stand next to Stefan, who for some reason looked slightly distressed. The siblings stared at each other for a short moment before Rebekah pushed Niklaus' hands off her and turned around to an open coffin, which she started searching frantically.

When she found nothing, she let out a frustrated scream and using her vampire strength she threw the coffin to the ground; breaking it in the process.

"What is going on?" I asked; surprising both Stefan and Rebekah, who hadn't noticed I was there. It was quite an accomplishment for Stefan as I stood almost right beside him and I couldn't help but feel a little suspicious of his lacking awareness.

"Malina." Rebekah breathed as she spun around at the sound of my voice and the next moment she stood right in front of me. "We thought you were dead."

"Just sleeping." Niklaus answered for me with irritation in his voice. I couldn't tell if he was irritated with me or by the lacking necklace. "She woke up, when I broke the curse."

"You broke it?" Rebekah asked with astonishment and looked back at her brother, who smiled victoriously. Instead of answering, his eyes slowly turned amber and veins appeared under his eyes.

"But I've run into some trouble with creating more hybrids, which is why I need to contact the Original witch." Niklaus explained and his smile disappeared again. My impatience was getting the better of me as I was given no answers and I almost yelled, when I repeated my question.

"Can someone please tell me what on earth is going on?"

* * *

><p><strong>AN: And that was chapter two! I'd love to hear what you think! Especially about Klaus and Malina's relationship. Hopefully Klaus wasn't too OOC, but he does have a very soft spot for Malina. **


	3. Chapter 3

My head was pounding to the rhythm of the music that played in the boutique that Rebekah had dragged us into and I could feel the champagne slowly making my limbs numb after several glasses. Niklaus was sending the sales assistant a flirting smile as she poured him another glass, leaving the bottle with him.

Niklaus was seated on a red divan and Stefan was in a chair on his left, looking very bored as he stared into his glass. I had managed to conquer a large armchair and my legs were slouched over one of the arms, while my back leaned against the other, making me sleepier by the minute.

"There has to be more to this dress." Rebekah complained with a loud voice to drown out the pumping music. I couldn't help but smile at her reaction to the fashion of the twenty-first century as it was so similar to my own, but my smile disappeared as my eyes fell on Niklaus and I knew he didn't miss the judging look I sent him.

I still had trouble believing that he had daggered Rebekah and kept her in a box for ninety years just because she didn't want to leave Chicago with him back in the twenties. So far I had been caught up with Stefan's part in that story, who the Original witch was – I was slightly surprised to hear Esther's name – and why Niklaus needed to speak with his dead mother.

I was surprised to hear that Stefan lived in Mystic Falls, which was the new name of the village I had lived in a millennium ago and even more shocked by his story of how he ended up in Chicago with Niklaus.

My mind was still trying to comprehend everything I had learned about Niklaus so far and I had ended up accidentally setting fire to Rebekah's old coffin the night before in frustration over all the things my old friend had done just this year.

"There's not." Niklaus answered with a dull voice and I mentally scolded myself for the small smile that appeared on my lips again. I was angry with him and that meant that I wasn't going to smile at him at all.

"So women in the twenty-first century dress like prostitutes then?" Rebekah said as she pulled the curtain to her dressing room aside and stepped out wearing a short black dress with a deep v-neck. I couldn't help but notice how Stefan finally seemed to wake up and an interested look was in his eyes.

"You know, I got dirty looks for wearing trousers!" Rebekah continued with an exasperated expression on her face and I was already looking forward to forcing her into a pair of so-called skinny jeans.

"You wore trousers so women today could wear nothing." Niklaus told her and he looked all but ready to fall asleep as he lied on the divan with an already empty glass in his hand.

"And what is this music? It sounds like a cable car accident." Rebekah complained once again and a laugh escaped me even though I had a little idea about what a cable car was. I could feel Niklaus' eyes on me and I immediately put my face back into a scowl, which only made him roll his eyes.

"It's dance music." Stefan said hesitantly as if he didn't exactly believe his own words.

"People dance to this?" Rebekah asked incredulously and Stefan hummed in conformation; a frown set on his forehead.

"Are we done?" Niklaus interrupted with an irritable voice and my head fell backwards with an annoyed groan, when the siblings started bickering once again.

"And why are you so grumpy?" Rebekah asked as she moved stepped towards her brother.

"I needed one thing from you for my witch to find out why my hybrids are dying. One thing. Your necklace and you lost it." Niklaus told her casually, but his irritation was almost tangible as he looked at his little sister.

"I didn't lose it. It's just been missing for ninety years." Rebekah said before she took a deep breath and looked at Stefan. "So what do you think?"

"I like it." Stefan told her with a smile as she turned around, but she clearly wasn't content with his answer. "What? I said I like it."

"I can always tell when you're lying." Rebekah told him as she turned around to reenter the dressing room.

"You are not going to ask me? The only other female here?" I called after her, slightly offended about being ignored. Rebekah turned around and an almost pitiful smile was on her lips as her eyes glided over my clothes.

"I'm sorry, Malina, but your clothes has nothing to do with fashion." Rebekah told me sweetly before she walked away, leaving me to stare down myself with uncertainty in my eyes.

I was wearing a plain floor length black dress with a decent neckline. A brown belt hang on my hips and I'd chosen a pair of flat sandals to wear on my feet. I had still trouble matching the right clothes sometimes, but I was fairly sure I had gotten it right when I picked this set out this morning.

"You look fine, Mal." Niklaus told me with a sigh and I couldn't tell whether he was annoyed by my sudden panicking or his sister's unflinching ability to belittle others.

"You are just saying that to make me less angry with you." I accused and this time I was sure he sighed because of me as he filled his glass again and drank from it.

"Alright, I'm gonna get some fresh air." Stefan said as he got up from his chair and exited the shop.

"You want to share some of that?" I asked as Niklaus refilled his glass once more. I held out my glass and watched him fill it up with a small smile on his lips that I pretended to ignore.

"Holy spirits, my head hurts." I grumbled as I quickly emptied my glass and held it out for him to refill.

"I don't think more alcohol is the right cure for a headache, love." Niklaus chuckled as he emptied the rest of the bottle into my glass and I glared at him when the endearment once again slipped his tongue, making him raise his hands in surrender.

"I am going to need it if I am to survive what comes next." I told him with a heavy sigh, forgetting my resolve to not speak with him for at least a couple of hours more. But talking with Niklaus had always been one of the easiest and most relaxing things for me to do so I barely noticed how my anger slowly crumbled.

"Which is?" Niklaus asked with a confused expression on his face that made me laugh in all my drunkenness.

"Come on, Malina. Time to get you out of those rags!" Rebekah then called from her dressing room and I gestured towards the sound of her voice dramatically, making Niklaus smirk with an amused gleam in his eyes.

"This is not funny!" I told him pointedly as I stood up, my head spinning a little too much for comfort and Niklaus smiled widened. The next moment Rebekah was dragging me towards my own dressing room that was filled with clothes she had picked out earlier and I heard Niklaus laugh at the sight of the scared expression on my face.

"I hate you!" I called after him as I was dragged backwards and pushed out of sight.

"No, you don't!" he sang, but his voice was laced with an insecurity that made my stomach drop and I realized that he was probably used to hear those words in a less playful way.

When Stefan hadn't returned half an hour later and Rebekah had grown impatient with my apparently poor fashion sense, we paid for the clothes and walked back to Gloria's bar. That is to say that Rebekah compelled the sales assistant to give it all for free, while I left a stack of money as soon as the blonde Original had exited the boutique.

"So who taught you to be such a fine upstanding citizen?" Niklaus asked jokingly as we walked down the street, but I could see the curiosity in his eyes.

"A descendant of mine called Emma. She is a witch."

"And I'm guessing she is the one who helped you adjust to this century as well?"

"She did. She has been very helpful to me. She even waited for hours for me to wake up at the night of the full moon, when you broke your curse." I told him with a smile on my lips and I once again felt a surge of gratitude towards Emma run through me.

"How did she know that I was going to break it?" Niklaus asked suspiciously, making me inwardly roll my eyes.

"It was more of a guess than anything else, but she did have her informants. She is no threat to you, Niklaus, so leave her alone." I said with a pointed finger, when I noticed the dangerous gleam in his eyes.

"You can call me Klaus, you know." he suggested with a small and slightly amused smile.

"I rather not." was all I said without giving an explanation to why. It just felt wrong for me and I was afraid that I would lose my connection to the old Niklaus if I started calling him by this new name.

"You sound like Elijah." he then told me and I scoffed at his words.

"Oh, do you mean the brother you have daggered and stowed away in some coffin?" I asked innocently and I saw how his smile fell and his expression became hard.

"He tried to kill me, Mal." Niklaus growled and I noticed how Rebekah's strides seemed to become longer and more forceful as she walked in front of us.

"And yet, here you are; alive and well." I replied as I gestured towards him with a fake smile on my lips. His eyes held mine for a long moment and I could see how he tried hard to control himself, but that didn't stop me from continuing. "And what of Kol?"

"Your boyfriend is fine, Malina. He was getting out of control so I put him to sleep." Niklaus told me casually and I rolled my eyes at his choice of words.

"Kol is not my boyfriend." I reminded him sternly and a playful smirk appeared on Niklaus' lips as he looked down at me. "The only reason Kol ever wanted me was because he could not get me."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that. He did almost tear a whole village apart to find you after your mother told him that she had sent you there. And he has always held witches in high esteem and often preferred their company to the one of his family." Niklaus told me and I could hear the bitter tone in his voice at the end. I felt my blood rise to my cheeks as I blushed at the thought of Kol and the smirk returned to Niklaus' lips.

I had always convinced myself that Kol's infatuation was nothing but a shallow one and only had to do with that I was no longer available for him to have. Ever since we had opened our eyes to the other sex, we had flirted with each other and at some point I even wished to marry the Mikaelson brother.

I had admittedly been in love with Kol until the day of my marriage, but I buried it inside me and hoped that it would slowly die as time went by. I was sure that Kol never felt any more than an attraction towards me and I had seen him run around after other girls all the while I dreamed of being his wife.

But something had happened to him the moment he was told of my impending marriage and from that moment on he made it nearly impossible for me to forget about him as he pursued me relentlessly; earning a few punches from my husband over time. Niklaus had been there to keep him away from me most of the time, but there had been times where I had come to him and nothing had felt more comforting than his embrace.

"And Finn?" I managed to ask before the memories of the past completely pulled me from the real world.

"Yes, Nik. Tell her about our oldest brother." Rebekah said mockingly without turning her head and Niklaus' eyes shot daggers at her back.

"I daggered Finn nine hundred years ago." was all he said and didn't meet my stare, when I looked at him with wide eyes.

"Nine centuries? Are you mad?!" I asked incredulously and a laugh escaped Rebekah, who had slowed down her steps to join our conversation.

"Finn despised being a vampire, so I saved him from a millennium of self-loathing." Niklaus explained and Rebekah rolled her eyes at his reasoning, making Niklaus glare at her warningly.

"How chivalrous of you." I replied sarcastically and now it was my turn to be at the receiving end of his cold gaze. We had reached Gloria's bar and without answering, Niklaus stepped inside. Rebekah sent me a wicked grin before she followed her brother and I couldn't help but roll my eyes at her apparent amusement of our little argument.

The bar was empty and Gloria had closed it off as it was only noon, which meant that she could set up the things for a locator spell without people looking weirdly at us. Niklaus had explained the witch that the necklace was no longer in Rebekah's possession and I had suggested using a locator spell that Gloria for some reason insisted on doing.

When Stefan finally returned from his walk, my patience was wearing thin and I could feel Niklaus growing restless as well.

"You left us." Rebekah pouted from her place on top of the bar as Stefan entered the room.

"Yeah, sorry. Retail therapy was making my head explode." Stefan explained casually and I secretly blamed him for not taking him with me.

"Tell me about it." I growled from my seat at a table close to Gloria's, who was trying to concentrate on her spell. An amused smirk spread on Niklaus' lips and I glared at him vengefully.

"What's she doing?" Stefan asked as he looked at Gloria and my eyes moved to the witch, frowning at her slowness.

"She's failing." Niklaus said, clearly as annoyed as I was by her lacking success.

"It's hard to find something when you don't have anything to go on." Gloria said with an irritated voice as she kept moving her hands over the grimoire in front of her.

"So use me." Rebekah suggested as she jumped from the bar and walked over to the witch. "I only wore it for a thousand years."

"See, now this one offers a solution." Gloria commented and reached for Rebekah's hand when the blonde Original sat on the table. "Alright, give me your hand, sweetheart."

"She's uh… she's looking for the necklace, huh?" Stefan said slowly and I almost missed the strange look in his eyes that made me glance at Niklaus, who didn't seem to have noticed anything.

"I can sense something." Gloria suddenly said but my eyes were trained on Stefan, who slowly moved closer to the witch and Rebekah, while Niklaus stood by with a satisfied look on his face.

Gloria began to whisper some words that I recognized as an intensifying spell and the next moment she dropped Rebekah's hand and turned her head to look at Stefan.

"I found it." Gloria revealed and I noticed the look that was passed between Stefan and her, making me narrow my eyes suspiciously. I thought back to the night before where Stefan had seemed out of mind as well, when Rebekah had desperately searched for the necklace.

"So where is it?" Rebekah asked impatiently, but Gloria just shook her head.

"It doesn't work like that, doll. I get images; there's a girl with her friends." Gloria told us as she tried to recall what she had seen.

"Yes, a dead girl with her dead friends if I don't get my necklace back." Rebekah interrupted harshly, making me sigh at her mean girl tendencies.

"Well, I have to dive back in to get the details." Gloria said as she tried to calm down Rebekah's rage.

"So dive." Niklaus told her as he walked towards her with a smile on his lips.

"I need more time." Gloria informed and met Niklaus' piecing gaze as he leaned against the table she was sitting at on his hands. "And space."

"You're hashing my juju." Gloria continued with a brushing-off gesture that only made Niklaus lean in closer with a dangerous gleam in his eyes. I scoffed silently at her words, earning a glance from Rebekah, who was the only one to notice.

"We can wait." Niklaus said with a dark voice and the smile fell from his lips.

"I'm sure you can. But that's not what I asked." Gloria retorted as she bravely met Niklaus' blue eyes with an unwavering stare that I was secretly impressed of. The deep frown of Stefan's forehead disappeared as he casually placed an arm on Niklaus' shoulder, urging him to keep calm.

"Hey, you know what, why don't we just come back later? I'm hungry anyway." Stefan suggested causally as he kept a hand on Niklaus' back and Rebekah looked at him with interest. "I'll let you pick who we eat."

I frowned in disgust at the mental picture and rolled my eyes when I saw the sadistic smile on Niklaus' lips as he shared a long look with his sister. Stefan was already walking away and Rebekah soon followed him, leaving Niklaus to look at me questioningly when I didn't rise from my seat.

"Have fun." I told him sarcastically and then met Gloria's dissatisfied stare with a tilt of my head. "I will stay here. I am sure Gloria would not mind a little help from another witch."

"Of course not." Gloria answered with a strained smile on her lips and I smirked at Niklaus, who looked between Gloria and me for a moment with a mischievous flicker in his eyes before he turned on his heel and left.

"What now then?" I asked as I rose from my seat and slowly stepped towards her.

"I need a drink." Gloria said with a tired sigh and glanced at me warily. "Do you want anything?"

"Yes, please." I answered and she eyed me expectantly as I edged closer to the grimoire on the table. "Anything but scotch, though."

Gloria nodded at me and slowly moved towards the bar, casting a glance between me and her grimoire before she turned her back at me. I didn't think much of it when she disappeared into a storage room behind the bar and quickly placed myself in her chair, positioning my hands over the grimoire.

The revelation spell fell hastily from my lips in a low whisper as I tried to recall whatever images Gloria had seen when she used the locator spell. Sometimes it was possible to reassemble the results of another spell if you knew what to look for and it had been recently casted. I was surprised when no girls appeared in my mind and instead I heard pained female voice.

_"__It burned me."_

_"__Maybe it's a sign you shouldn't be wearing it."_ another deep female voice said.

_"__Caroline._" a third voice chastised.

_"__What? I'm just saying, you know if you're going to be cooking without Stefan…"_

My eyes shot open, when I heard the Salvatore brother's name and my suspicions towards Niklaus' new friend grew. I very much doubted that it was a coincidence and my mind was racing as I tried to think of a way to inform Niklaus of these new informations without letting Gloria know.

"What are you doing?" a voice asked and I whipped my head around to meet the suspicious eyes of Gloria, who was standing right beside me.

"Oh, I just wanted to try and 'dive' a little deeper." I shrugged with feign disinterest and stood up from the chair to move to the bar.

"And what did you find?" Gloria asked warily while she followed me.

"Nothing, really. Could I borrow a telephone? I need to call my friend to let her know where I am." I lied as I leaned over the bar to look after a mobile device.

"Sorry, sweetheart." Gloria said and I turned around to look at her just as a needle pierced the skin of my neck and set my body on fire, when a clear liquid entered my system. My mouth fell open in surprise and my knees buckled under me as the witch hazel quickly weakened me. "But I can't let you tell Klaus what you heard or saw."

My eyes rolled back in my head as I tried to see past the pain and fight back, but all I managed to do was to conjure enough power to push the other witch to the floor. Gloria was quickly on her feet again, while my fingers fumbled to grasp my necklace in hopes that it would strengthen me, but when the red pendant suddenly was ripped off of me, I lost consciousness.

My limbs were heavy and I struggled to sit up from my lying position on the floor, when I finally returned from the black void my mind had taken me to. I couldn't register much else than that I was in a dark room – most likely the storage room – and my feet and hands were tied together by ropes. A cloth around my mouth prevented me from screaming and I was afraid that my gagging reflex soon would fail me.

My eyes desperately searched the room for my necklace but it was nowhere in sight and my stomach dropped at the revelation. Without it I wouldn't last for more than a few hours with the witch hazel in my system as well. I tried to cry for help but all I managed was a choking sound.

When I suddenly heard voices coming from outside the room I was in, I tried to scream once more but the noise I made was barely audible. I decided to listen instead and my hopes of rescue disappeared when I recognized Stefan's voice. For a moment I was sure he spoke my name, but their words were incomprehensible in my ears and moments later the voices stopped as a body fell to the floor.

The ensuing silence almost made me numb and I blocked out the sounds of Gloria's movements as I worked to remove the cloth around my mouth. I took a deep breath, when I finally managed to push it to my chin, but I stayed silent as I doubted there was anyone in the other room willing to save me.

I leaned back against a shelf and focused all of my slipping strength on freeing my hands, but I could already feel my heartbeat slowing and after half an hour I gave up, my head falling backwards in defeat. I had almost fallen asleep when a painful cry filled my ears and I heard Gloria's calm voice.

Stefan's screams held me awake, but I lost any sense of time as the torture continued outside my door. I lifted my head from its resting place when I suddenly heard a creepy laugh that was interrupted by a low female voice I hadn't heard before. I contemplated calling for help once more, but I still didn't know what side the newcomer was on – neither Gloria nor Stefan being a team I would count on.

Soon it was only Stefan and the new female voice that could be heard and I very much doubted that Gloria was still breathing. I was fighting to stay awake, but my breathing was slowly becoming shallower and the lack of oxygen made me dizzy and tired. My dull mind didn't register that the voices outside had gone quiet and I barely managed to open my eyes when the room was lit up as the door was forced open, almost pulling it off its hinges.

"Mal?" a familiar voice called out and I heard the whoosh of air as Niklaus ran towards me. My protests were silent and ignored, when I felt Niklaus' bleeding wrist against my mouth and the metallic taste of it brought my senses back to live. I could almost feel his frustration when his blood only did little to help me but it had been enough for my mind and voice to start working again.

"My necklace." I whispered hoarsely and I watched him look around confusedly, which made me shake my head. "Not here."

Niklaus quickly disappeared from the storage room and to my horror I felt myself drift away once more as my heartbeat slowed to a minimum. If I were to die now, I would wake up as a vampire; something I very much minded. A loud gasp escaped me as soon as I felt the cold pendant on my chest and it almost hurt when my heart started picking up its pace, saving me from a life as an undead.

Niklaus removed the ropes around my feet and hands as I focused on taking deep breaths and I felt how my magic spread through my veins once more, creating a content smile on my lips. I shied away when another liquid suddenly touched my lips and I felt Niklaus' hand lift up my head, urging me to drink.

"It's water, sweetheart." Niklaus told me calmly and I greedily emptied the glass.

"Who did this?" he asked with a low voice and I felt a shiver down my spine at the sound of his voice. It sounded cold and calculating as if he was trying to distance himself while at the same time figure out how to cause as much pain as possible to whoever was responsible. And then there was a rage in his voice that seemed so strangely intimate and reminded me of the night he had killed my husband.

"Gloria." I whispered and wished I could have another glass of water for my dry throat. "But I think she's dead. Stefan knows…"

"Stefan knows what?" Niklaus asked with cold fury when my voice broke off and I watched as he tried his best to hide his anger; something he didn't quite master.

"The necklace. Those girls said his name. I think he knows them." I managed to explain and I could feel exhaustion overwhelm me as Niklaus swept me into his arms and walked out of the bar with me. Even though the pain from the witch hazel had subsided noticeably because of Niklaus' blood, it was still in my system; making me weak and tired.

"Look who I found tucked away in the storage room in Gloria's bar." Niklaus suddenly said and I absentmindedly noted that we were back at the warehouse, where most of the Mikaelson family was stowed away in their coffins. Gently, I was put down on a white sofa that stood in the big room and the cold air made goose bumps appear on my arms, when I suddenly lost the warmth from Niklaus' body.

"Anything you would like to tell me, mate?" I heard Niklaus ask through his teeth and the noise of struggle told me that he probably had Stefan by his throat, making it hard for the vampire to breathe.

"What is going on?" Rebekah asked confusedly and I was surprised to hear her voice right beside me.

"According to Malina, Stefan knows who has your necklace and I'm guessing that Stefan was the one who put an end to Gloria's life as well." Niklaus told his sister and I slowly opened my eyes to see Stefan hanging in the air as his hands tried to pry away the one Niklaus had around his neck.

"He was asking about Mikael." Rebekah then informed and walked to her brother, who didn't take his eyes of Stefan. I felt my own heart beat harder in my chest at the name and made a silent wish that it wasn't the Mikael I thought it was. "He's not with us, Nik. I can sense it."

"Klaus… I didn't- she's wrong." Stefan managed to choke out and I watched with surprise as Niklaus slowly put down Stefan, finally letting him breathe probably. I shut my eyes tightly, when a crunching sound echoed through the room and I wasn't surprised to find Stefan lifeless on the floor, when I opened them again.

"Great, Nik. How are we supposed to find out where the necklace is now?" Rebekah asked with an exasperated look on her face as she eyed Stefan.

"I have an idea on where to start." Niklaus replied and a smirk slowly appeared on his face as he looked at his confused sister. "Now, what did you tell Stefan about Mikael?"

"Nothing, I swear." Rebekah quickly said and I could hear the small quiver in her voice.

"Nik…" I tried to call out as he stepped closer to his sister in a threatening way and I immediately gained his attention, making him flash to my side in a second. "Could I have some water?"

"Sure." Niklaus said quickly as his eyes glided over my face and I offered him a small smile as reassurance of my recovery. The anger inside him was evident as I looked into his cold blue eyes and it didn't surprise when he didn't return the small gesture as he turned around towards his sister.

"Take her out to my car, get a driver and drive to Mystic Falls. Make sure that she has food and water. Do what you want with the driver afterwards." Niklaus ordered and Rebekah quickly nodded as she moved back towards me. "I'll take care of Stefan and the rest."

Rebekah didn't protest against anything her brother said and I could see the relief in her eyes as she looked down at me before she picked me up, carrying me away in her arms.

"I can walk." I tried with a weak voice but the blonde Original just ignored me as she walked towards Niklaus' car. When we reached the car she put me down and opened the door to the backseat, only to practically lift me inside and close the door after me.

Several minutes went by before Rebekah returned with a bag full of food and water bottles and I couldn't help but wonder how she had handled a trip to the supermarket without killing anyone. She got into the front seat and placed the grocery bag on the floor beside me. The next moment the door to the driver's seat opened, but I couldn't see who the driver was from my lying position on the backseats.

"Are we really going home?" I asked hesitantly as I went through the bag to find a bottle of water and we slowly made our way out of Chicago.

"Mystic Falls haven't been my home for centuries." Rebekah told me with a bored voice and I couldn't help but wonder if the Mikaelson family even had some place they called home anymore. "But if you really want to call it that; sure, we're going home."

"What do you think Nik will do with Stefan?" I asked after a couple minutes of silence and I noticed how Rebekah shifted in her seat uncomfortably.

"I really don't care. He lied to us." Rebekah said with a cold voice and I pretended not to hear the hurt tone that she tried so hard to hide.

"I am sorry, Rebekah." I told her with a low voice and met her gaze as she turned around to watch me with a confused frown on her forehead.

"What for?" she asked and I watched how her eyes narrowed suspiciously, making my heart break for the woman in front of me. She might be a thousand years old but after spending less than a day with her, I knew that a part of her still was as naïve and love starving as she had been as a human.

"For all the things that Niklaus has ever done to you." I replied with a clear voice that cut through my own hazy mind and made Rebekah's eyes widen.

Even though I didn't want to believe it, I knew that Niklaus' misdeeds towards his siblings probably reached further than keeping them in boxes for years at a time. I was quickly learning to understand the 'new' Niklaus and apologizing didn't seem like a part of his vocabulary.

"Why are you apologizing?" Rebekah questioned with an off look in her eyes as she turned away from me again.

"I just thought someone ought to." I told her honestly and couldn't hold back the yawn that escaped me.

"Stop apologizing for others' wrong-doing, Malina. It's a foolish thing to do." Rebekah chastised with a hard voice, but she didn't look at me as her eyes were fixed on something in front of her. "And get some sleep."

Without arguing further, I slowly closed my eyes and felt how sleep gently wrapped around me and pulled me into its comfortable embrace. Rebekah's voice sounded far away, when she suddenly spoke again and I frowned as I concentrated to understand her words.

"Malina? Thank you." Rebekah said with a soft voice and I could feel her eyes on me, even though I didn't bother to open my own. I wasn't sure what she was thanking me for, so I hummed in question.

"For distracting Nik back there. I know why you did it."

"Any time." I mumbled as my energy-depraved body pulled me into a deep slumber.

"That's what I'm afraid of." was the last words I heard Rebekah say before a dreamless sleep overtook me.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Hope you like it so far:) And like Malina. I think she's awesome, but she's my character so that sorta doesn't count. One thing I have forgotten to write is that I've casted Jessica Szohr as Malina in this story:) Or that's who I see in my head when I write. You're welcome to picture whoever;)**


	4. Chapter 4

My footsteps echoed as I walked through the empty hallway, looking into every classroom I passed. Even though I was on the look-out for the girl with the necklace, it was just as much to please my own curiosity that I spent more time than necessary searching the halls.

I wasn't exactly sure who I was looking for even though Niklaus had told me that 'I would know it when I found her' with a secretive smile on his face, but I was beginning to doubt his words as I had not yet had any epiphany to whom we were looking for. I had already ran into a group of teenagers, who asked me if I would help them cover someone's desk with post-its, but none of them seemed to be the one I was looking for.

I was about to go through a door and into another hall, when it suddenly opened and I almost collided with a young woman. We both froze in surprise, but my mind blanked when I noticed the dark chestnut coloured hair and her brown doe eyes that were completely identical to a girl I had thought long dead.

"Tatia." was all I could say and I saw her frown in confusion when I didn't move around her and through the door she held open for me.

"There's my girl." Niklaus suddenly said right behind me and I jumped out of my trance with a small gasp.

"Klaus." Tatia breathed with a fear-stricken expression on her face and spun around on her heels in an attempt to escape. I snapped my head back to look at Niklaus, who rolled his eyes before he flashed in front of the girl.

"You are supposed to be dead." Niklaus told her with a crossed voice and that's when I realized it wasn't Tatia in front of me, but rather her doppelgänger; Stefan's supposedly dead girlfriend. "What are we gonna do about that?"

The doppelgänger's – was it Elena? – eyes became wide with fear and I noticed her take a deep breath before opening her mouth to scream. Before any sound escaped Elena, Niklaus' hand was over her mouth and he was standing right behind her.

"Do that again and I will find all of your friends and kill them one by one. Maybe I should start with the vampire who should have been sacrificed instead of poor Aunt Jenna. Was she the blonde one?" Niklaus told the horrified girl and I would have rolled my eyes at his theatrics if I hadn't been slightly horrified myself.

"Just let go of her, Niklaus. I am sure that she will come with us without causing any more trouble, yes?" I said and directed my question to Elena, who quickly nodded. Niklaus sent me an irritated glare before he slowly released her and grabbed her arm, dragging her after him down the hall and leaving me to follow.

They walked fast in front of me and I heard Niklaus ramble about not being able to make hybrids. I could see how his grip on her arm was too tight and she let out small gasps of pain that made me cringe.

"Could you just be a little more gentle, Nik?" I called after him, but he just ignored me as he continued his complaining. My stomach dropped when I heard the girl asking for a quick death, but Niklaus just smiled back at her as he pushed through a door, telling Elena that he was going to make her suffer.

As Niklaus and Elena disappeared through the door, I stopped and took a deep breath to calm myself. I couldn't help but wonder if I should have just stayed with Rebekah, who was waiting for Stefan to wake up after Niklaus snapping his neck for the fifth time. But I needed to stay with Niklaus and as far as possible make sure he didn't kill anyone.

"Attention all seniors! You have officially been busted. Prank night is over, head on home." I heard Niklaus yell with a strange American accent as I stepped into the large room filled with teenagers and water cups on the floor.

"You two, I remember you." Niklaus called after a girl and a boy, who was about to leave. I cautiously stepped closer, wondering what he was up to.

"I'm sorry, who are you?" the girl asked confusedly and walked back towards Niklaus.

"Oh, don't worry I wasn't in my right head the last time we met." Niklaus quickly rambled on as he looked into the girl's eyes. "Lift your foot up and stay like that."

"Nik, what are you doing?" I interrupted, when I saw him compel the girl and she slowly lifted her foot. Once again, I was ignored and he looked to the boy to compel him.

"If she drops her foot, Chad, I want you to beat her to death." Niklaus told him calmly and I saw how Chad's eyes became vacant as he stared at his girlfriend's foot.

"What the hell do you think you are doing?" I asked angrily as I stepped into between the teenagers and Niklaus.

"Just a bit of fun." Niklaus told me with a sadistic smile on his face that made me shiver, but I didn't stop glaring at him.

"Klaus, you don't have to hurt anybody." Elena pleaded, making Niklaus turn away from my angry stare and look at her.

"Come on, love. Of course I do." he responded in a nonsensical way and Elena looked at her classmates with horror.

"Undo this now, Niklaus." I demanded as he followed Elena's gaze back to the teenagers.

"All this sleeping really has made you boring, Malina." Niklaus complained with an amused tone and I noticed the looks Elena casted between us.

"I have not changed, but you have." I retorted angrily and I saw the corner of his mouth twitch. "You have become a… a monster."

"Good, I was beginning to worry that you didn't see it." Niklaus told me with a smirk on his lips and I felt my jaw drop in surprise.

"What?" I gaped in shock and my eyes shortly met Elena's, who looked even more confused than I felt.

"I'm not the same man that you once knew, Malina. You'll be wise to remember that." Niklaus said with a stern voice, but I was surprised to hear the warning in his words rather than a threat. "Dana, why don't you relax? You and Chad sit tight."

Dana, who was already losing her balance, fell forward but was caught by Chad who lowered her to the floor. I crouched in front of her and offered her and Chad a quick smile, before I turned my attention back to Niklaus with a sigh.

"Who are you?" Elena suddenly asked and my eyes met hers familiar brown ones. I had no idea how Niklaus was able to do such things to the girl who looked exactly like Tatia, but the whole point of what he just did was to show me that he was no longer the man he used to be, so I didn't say anything.

"She's my witch." Niklaus answered before I had the opportunity to do so myself.

"I am not _your_ witch." I corrected as I glared at him. "My name is Malina and yes, I am a witch."

"But you're helping him?" Elena asked with a head gesture towards Niklaus and I could almost hear the disgust in her voice.

"I think it would be safer to say that I am here for damage control." I told her with a smile that she didn't return and I noticed an amused smile grow on Niklaus' lips that made me mutter 'asshole' under my breath.

"Where's Stefan? What did you do to him?" Elena then asked after Nik was done laughing at my cursing and I could hear the distress in her voice.

"Stefan's on a time out. He got poor Malina into a bit of trouble; it almost killed her." Niklaus informed her casually, but I saw the blaze of anger in his eyes. Elena opened her mouth to answer, but was interrupted by some doors being opened and I looked past her to see a dark-skinned girl and blonde boy step into the room.

"Bonnie, get out of here!" Elena yelled and the girl stopped in her tracks with a shocked expression on her face. The next moment Niklaus was standing behind her, startling her as he spoke.

"Ah, I was wondering when you would show up. Now we can get started." Niklaus said and I quickly moved towards him with a sigh, ready to stop him from killing the teenagers. "I assume you're the reason Elena is still walking around alive."

"That's right." the girl answered and I stopped a couple of meters behind her, surprised by the strange vibe I felt from her. "If you wanna blame someone, blame me."

"There's no need for blame, love. Just your witchy interference seems to have caused some undesirable side effects and since you caused the problems, I'm gonna have you find the fix." Niklaus told the girl with a smile on his lips and I wasn't surprised to find out that Elena's friend was a witch.

"Get off of me." a new voice growled as the doors opened once more and Rebekah walked in, pushing another teenage boy in front of her. Were there no adults involved in all this mess?

"Hush, now." Rebekah breathed as the boy struggled against her hold, making Elena and her friends look at her in shock.

"Like you all to meet my sister, Rebekah." Niklaus said as gestured towards the Original blonde with his arm. "Write a warning, she can be quite mean."

"Don't be an arse." Rebekah retorted and pushed the boy in her grip over to Niklaus.

"Leave him alone!" Elena interrupted with a snarl, but Niklaus just grabbed the boy by his neck and pushed him further into the room. I could feel Bonnie's eyes rest on me for a long moment, but my eyes were fixed on Niklaus, who looked like he was about to do something I would regret later.

"I'm gonna make this very simple. Every time I attempt to turn a werewolf into a vampire-hybrid, they die during the transition." Niklaus informed his audience and my eyes widened in shock, when I saw him bite into his own wrist and force it into the boy's mouth. "It's quite horrible, actually."

"I need you to find a way to save my hybrids, Bonnie." Niklaus said as he held onto the struggling boy. "And for Tyler's sake, you better hurry."

"No." I breathed, when a sickening crack rang through the room and the boy fell lifeless to the floor. Elena and her friends gasped in horror as well, while Rebekah looked rather bored. Niklaus on the other hand wore a large smile on his face and I walked over to him with angry steps.

"Was it really necessary to kill a teenage boy?" I growled at him and he shot Tyler an unbothered glance.

"He was the most poetic choice." Niklaus said with a smug grin and stepped away from the body on the floor. I crouched down beside the teenage boy and felt for his non-existing pulse. Tyler's friends quickly came rushing to him as soon as Niklaus was far enough away and I slowly stood up from my position, moving away as well.

"Besides, they need an incentive." he continued as I caught up with him by the bleachers.

I watched with worry as the teenagers stood around their dead friend with grief in their eyes and then turned to glare at the Original siblings, who looked rather bored as they sat on the bleachers.

"He killed him." I heard the blonde boy say and my heart clenched at the broken tone in his voice.

"He's not dead." Elena quickly said as she walked aimlessly from side to side. "Klaus' blood will turn him into a vampire."

"And if Bonnie's successful he'll live through his transition." Niklaus called out behind me and I watched him get up from his seat and move towards the teenagers with Rebekah on his heels.

"Go on then. Go fetch your grimoires and enchantments and what-not." Niklaus told Bonnie as he grabbed Elena by the arm and looked down at her with a grin. "I'll hold on to Elena. For safe keeping."

I watched Elena and Bonnie share a quick look as the witch clearly was torn between leaving Elena and saving Tyler. Funnily, I felt the same way but after a moment's thought I stepped towards the small group.

"I will help." I told the young witch and ignored the smug grin on Niklaus' face as he looked at me. I didn't want this for Tyler, but if he didn't become a hybrid, he would die and that was a far worse faith.

I met Bonnie's confused stare and she gave me a small nod in acceptance. She didn't exactly seem thrilled, though and I knew Bonnie probably felt like she didn't actually have a choice. I then walked forward and past Niklaus and Elena, sending the hybrid a glare that told him to behave and gestured Bonnie to follow me.

"You come too." I told the blonde boy who was crouching on the floor and he looked up in confusion before he quickly got up and walked after Bonnie and myself. Not that I thought he would have any use, but I wanted him out of that room. It was one less person for Niklaus to hurt.

"What are you gonna do?" the boy asked Bonnie as soon as we entered the hallway and I stayed silent as I followed the teenagers.

I didn't know exactly what Bonnie had done to make Niklaus unable to create hybrids so my solutions would only be bad guesses. The only thing I could think of was to contact the Original witch, but I still didn't know where the necklace was and seemingly it wasn't important to Niklaus anymore.

"I have no idea. The curse he's talking about is a thousand years old and my grimoires don't go back that far." Bonnie told her friend, sounding out of breath as they quickly walked down the hall.

I thought of my own grimoires or rather my mother's that did go that far back, but probably wouldn't have anything about the curse in it. That was Esther's curse and as far as I knew my mother had only provided the moon stone. My hand unconsciously found its way to the red pendant and I kept silent, deciding that now wasn't the time to share my life story.

"Can't you ask those dead witches that helped you before?" the boy asked with a frantic voice and I frowned in confusion. What was going on in this place?

"I don't have contact with them anymore. They cut me off when I brought Jeremy back to life." Bonnie said and my eyes widened in shock when I heard about the use of dark magic by a teenage girl.

"You brought someone back to life?!" I interrupted, startling the teenagers who apparently had forgotten all about my presence. Bonnie frowned at me for a moment, but I spoke again before she could reply. "Are you even aware of the consequences using such a spell?"

"I-" Bonnie began explaining but stopped herself as lighting seemed to struck her.

"The consequences…" Bonnie mumbled to herself and the boy glanced uneasily between us as I waited for Bonnie's brilliant explanation for using so dangerous magic. "That's it! I can't contact the dead, but Jeremy can."

"And who is this Jeremy?" I asked with interest and got a wary look from both of them. I didn't blame them for not trusting me but I had offered to help so it was getting slightly annoying.

"Elena's little brother." Bonnie told me and pulled out a small device from her pocket that I recognized as a mobile phone. She quickly pressed a few buttons and held it to her ear. A few moments later she removed the phone with a frustrated sigh and went back to pressing more buttons.

"He isn't answering." Bonnie said with desperation in her voice and I watched her friend repeat her actions with the same result. "Could he be at the school?"

"I haven't seen him, but we can take a look." the blonde said with a frown and glared at me for a couple of seconds before he dialled another number on his phone. "Let's split up."

"I will go with you." I told Bonnie, who quickly nodded at her friend and then walked the opposite way of him.

"So who are you?" Bonnie asked without looking at me as we looked through a small window into each our classroom. As we moved down the hall she continued to make more calls to Jeremy, who still didn't answer.

"I am Malina and yes, I am with Klaus but it is not what you think." I told her and pretended to ignore the scoff she made.

"Well, how are you with him then?" Bonnie asked, her voice slightly mocking and I forced myself to smile at her.

"I am the one who makes sure he doesn't kill all of you." I said with a nervous laugh that only seemed to make Bonnie even angrier.

"And how is that working out for you?" she asked sarcastically and I felt the need to take deep breath.

"Look, I am truly sorry about all the things that have happened to you. You are only teenagers and even though I don't know much about being a teenager these days, I am certain it should not be like this." I told her calmly and earned a frown and a confused glare from Bonnie.

"Let's just keep looking." Bonnie said and ran down the hall to check the next room.

Five minutes later we still hadn't found Jeremy but luckily everyone else had gone home. A shrill noise interrupted the silence between us and Bonnie quickly pulled out her phone to answer it. She waited for someone to speak on the other end before she replied with a desperate voice.

"No, I called him like twenty times."

"Okay, I'll meet you by your truck." Bonnie said after hearing what her friend had to say and began walking away without another word, leaving me with no other option than to follow her.

"Where are we going?" I called after her when she hung up the phone and opened the door to the parking lot.

"We're going to Jeremy's house, but you should just stay here." Bonnie told me without turning around to look at me as we finally stopped by a big car.

"I told you that I would help."

"And you've been very helpful so far." Bonnie said with a fake smile on her lips that irked me. She clearly didn't mean what she was telling me and I suddenly found myself right in front of her, looking down into a pair of scared green eyes.

"I don't know what you think this hostility will earn you because I am truly here to help if you will just let me. You may not trust me and I understand that, but I hope you believe me when I say that I mean no harm to you or your friends. So will you let me help?" I told her calmly but with enough authority in my voice to make her understand that I was being serious.

Bonnie nodded once and I watched her breathe out the air she probably didn't know she had held. The next moment her phone rang again and she quickly stepped farther away from me before answering.

"What is taking you so long?" Bonnie asked, clearly uncomfortable with being alone with me.

"What?" she then asked confusedly, when her friend had answered and she quickly glanced at me, making me even more curious to what the boy was saying on the other end. "No, Jeremy can help us save Tyler."

"I don't understand." Bonnie then said and I could feel her becoming worried for her friend.

"No, Matt, that's crazy!" Bonnie exclaimed and looked at me with wide eyes before she turned on her heel and began making her way back into the school, leaving me to follow once again without any explanation.

"No, Matt. I can't do that kind of magic anymore." she told Matt and I heard her voice growing more and more desperate as she started walking faster. She stopped walking for a short moment when she was suddenly hung up on and her eyes met mine, revealing the shock in them before she sprinted down the halls.

We ran through the halls towards a place I didn't know where was and the distance between us slowly became longer as Bonnie urged herself to run faster. I was at the end of the hall when she ran through some double doors with a weird blue light behind it and I managed to reach the room just as Bonnie jumped into the water.

It took me a couple of seconds to realize that it was Matt who was down in the water and I gasped as I quickly put the pieces of half a phone conversation together. Matt wanted Bonnie to do what she had done for Jeremy, which she couldn't any longer.

My head cleared of thoughts when Bonnie came to the surface with Matt in her arms and I realized he wasn't breathing. She managed to swim to the edge of the pool and I quickly pulled Matt out of the water, getting on my knees to look after a pulse. It was weak and slowly disappearing into nothing as Bonnie sat down on the other side of him and started pushing her hands against his chest.

"Matt, please!" Bonnie yelled with a frantic voice and I felt helpless as I sat by watching her trying to save her friend. She blew air into his mouth a couple of times before she started pushing his chest once again. I could tell it wasn't working and her desperation didn't help in the matter. "I can't do this! There's nothing else I can do."

"Bonnie." I called with a calm voice and reached for her hands to make her stop.

"No! Get away from me! I have to save him!" Bonnie screamed as she kept trying to restart his heart, but I managed to pry her hands away and she looked at me with teary eyes.

"Do you trust me?" I asked, my voice intense because of the situation and I saw the small flicker in her eyes that told me she did. It took her another couple of seconds to nod and I gave her a quick smile before I placed my own hands flat over Matt's chest.

I closed my eyes as I gathered up a white light within me that spread towards my hands and I was relieved to feel that there still was a little life force left in Matt, which meant I didn't have to use any dark magic to bring him back.

But it had to be powerful and I wasn't sure how much it would drain me. With one last deep breath I raised my hands and then pushed down with all the strength I had, releasing a spell of pure energy into Matt's body.

I fell back onto the floor when Matt's head snapped up and he began coughing up water. My body felt drained from energy and I grabbed my necklace in hopes that it could help me back on my feet. For a long moment it almost seemed dead and I closed my eyes as the world spun around me, making me dizzy.

The prickling feeling of magic spreading through my veins soon returned and I took a couple of long deep breaths to calm myself. Beside me Bonnie was helping Matt to sit up while telling him that he was okay. She looked at her friend with tears in her eyes and then at me, giving me a grateful smile.

We all managed to get to our feet and Bonnie put Matt's sweatshirt over his shoulders in an attempt to give him some warmth. I took a moment to recollect myself before following Bonnie and Matt out.

"As soon as you're feeling better, I'm gonna kill you." Bonnie told her friend and I felt myself smile at her words. The teenagers stopped when Matt walked in front of Bonnie, sending me a quick glance before speaking to the witch in a hushed voice.

"….message for you." was all I heard of Matt's words and I then saw the questioning tilt of Bonnie's head, making me move closer.

"From the witch that put the hybrid curse on Klaus. She said that Elena shouldn't have survived Klaus' ritual. Hybrids can't transition because Elena is still alive." Matt told Bonnie and they both looked at me when I sighed because of this new twist. There was something about it that seemed wrong, though. Why would Esther help Klaus after putting the curse on him herself?

"Tyler." Bonnie then said with a shaking voice as she looked at Matt.

"He's gonna die, isn't he?" Matt continued, but Bonnie didn't have time to respond as they were suddenly interrupted by Niklaus.

"Oh, I wouldn't be too sure about that." he called from where he was leaning against a locker, making us turn to face him. "Given the choice doppelgänger or hybrid, I go hybrid every time."

Bonnie and Matt looked at Niklaus and then at each other with a scared expression on their faces, but I almost felt a weird sense of relief by seeing him here. Perhaps it was just my tired brain speaking.

"You look rather worn-out, sweetheart." Niklaus then said to me and moved forward between the two teenagers, who quickly jumped out of his way. "What have you lot been up to?"

"Bringing back the dead, you know that kind of thing." I answered with a tired smile and I saw a flash of anger in his eyes as he realized what that might have cost me.

"And whose brilliant idea was that?" he asked with a small growl in his voice that made Matt and Bonnie look at each other in fright.

"Mine." I quickly said, regaining my friend's attention and surprising the teenagers behind us. "We needed to talk to a certain ghost and since both the necklace and the local ghost whisperer is out of town, I suggested this. Matt volunteered."

"I see." Niklaus said and I knew he didn't quite believe me but for some reason he chose to let it go.

"Nik, you do know that you cannot trust the Original witch, right?" I asked, my voice urgent and I could see the uncertainty in his eyes. "What if she wants you to kill Elena so you can never make any hybrids? What if Elena is somehow the part missing in making them? Why would Esther suddenly want to help you now after all these years?"

It almost physically hurt me to convince my friend that his mother didn't care enough to help him, but I needed to convince Niklaus that I was right if I wanted to save both Tyler and Elena. And I knew that I was right.

I noticed the glimmer in his eyes that told me I had gotten to him before I saw the grin on his face and I couldn't stop myself from smiling too. He then moved his hand to the back of my head and pulled me forward to give me a quick kiss on the forehead before he sped away.

That left me with Bonnie and Matt, who were staring at me with surprise and I felt myself grow impatient by the silence that stretched out between us. With a small sigh I began moving forward as I felt the need to find Niklaus and make sure he hadn't found new ways to ruin people's lives already. I might have saved Tyler and Elena, but I had also created a whole new problem for the teenagers.

"Thank you." Bonnie suddenly called after me as I reached the end of the hall and was about to pass through the double doors. I turned around to face her with a small smile on my lips and was surprised to see the other witch smile as well.

"I hoped I have earned at least some of your trust now." I said pointedly and raised my eyebrows in question. Matt was looking between us, seemingly confused by what was happening as he still didn't know I was the one to bring him back to life.

"You have." Bonnie told me with a nod and I felt my smile widen.

"Goodbye, Bonnie…" I started but trailed off as I realized I didn't know her last name.

"Bennett." she finished for me and I had a hard time hiding my surprise. Emma had informed that the Bennett witches was the most direct lineage of my cousins' and therefore mine descendants, which made them more powerful than most witches.

"Interesting." I muttered to myself and I watched Bonnie frown in confusion as she apparently heard my words. "Well then Bonnie Bennett, maybe I will see you again sometime."

"Not too soon, I hope." Matt said with a low voice, probably hoping that only Bonnie would hear him and I couldn't stop myself from laughing.

"I will see what I can do." I told him and walked through the door without waiting for his response.

I walked down the hall in long strides, not quite sure where I was or where I was going until I suddenly heard someone scream. I ran towards the sound as fast as I could and bolted through yet another set of doors to find Stefan feeding of Elena, who was now whimpering in pain.

Without much thought I lifted my hands and flung Stefan through the air so he landed on the other side of the cafeteria. He was quickly on his feet again, looking at me through dark red eyes with his teeth bared at me. There was something off about him, but I didn't manage to find out what before his neck suddenly was snapped by an irritated Niklaus.

"What have you done to him, Niklaus?" I asked with a wavering voice and shock written all over my face. Elena was on her hands and knees beside me, breathing raggedly with small sobs in between. I quickly got to my knees beside her and ran a comforting hand over her back, but it seemed to startle her and she fell to the floor on her rear, clutching the bleeding wound on her neck.

"I fixed him." Niklaus told me casually and casted a quick glance at Stefan's lifeless body before he moved towards me and Elena. "Humanity is such a pesky little thing."

"You took his humanity?" I asked with wide eyes and I felt despair spread inside at the sight of my careless friend.

"Relax, Malina, he'll be fine. He'll be better." Niklaus told me with a smirk and crouched down beside Elena, producing a plastic tube from seemingly nowhere as he removed the doppelgänger's hand to expose the bite marks Stefan had made. A scared and pained whimper escaped her and I slowly wrapped my arms around her shoulders, clutching her to my side as if to keep her safe from Niklaus.

I watched with hidden disgust as Niklaus filled the small tube with Elena's blood and I felt anger overwhelm me when I saw a grin spread on his face. He then stood up and began walking towards the doors, giving me the opportunity to pull Elena closer towards me and put my own hand over her bleeding neck.

"What are you doing?" I called after him just before he exited the room and the look on his face told me that I hadn't succeeded in hiding my anger this time.

"I'm putting your little theory to the test." Niklaus replied and shook the small tube in front of him without spilling any of the dark red liquid. "And would you be a sweetheart and take care of Elena for me? She's just become very important to me."

"She is just a child, Nik. Leave her be." I pleaded as I realized anger would get me nowhere, but the begging didn't seem to work either.

"Spare me your morals, Malina." Niklaus sneered at me, making me involuntarily flinch, before a complacent smile appeared on his lips. "Now, I got a hybrid to create, but I will come back for you and Elena afterwards."

I stared at the door for a long time after he had left and I felt an overwhelming hopelessness fill me. How would I ever be able to salvage any of Niklaus' humanity, when I had lost all faith in him within a few days? Had I signed up to do the impossible?

I was pulled from my thoughts when Elena stirred in my arms and shook my head to clear my mind before I turned my attention towards the teenage girl. I couldn't tell if the bleeding had stopped, but I could feel the warm liquid between my fingers and I watched some of it run down my hand and arm, making me slightly queasy.

"_Lenio is dolor, vigoratur is vulnus_." I murmured as I pressed onto the wound, repeating it a couple of times to make the healing spell stronger. When I removed my bloodied hand from Elena's neck, the bite marks instead looked like they were days old and not minutes, and it seemed like the pain had subsided as well.

That almost meant that Elena suddenly became aware of her surroundings and before I could stop her, she had pushed herself away from me. She looked like a trap animal as she searched the room with her eyes and a gasp escaped her when she saw Stefan's body on the floor.

"It is okay, Elena. He will be fine." I tried to tell her soothingly, but as her head snapped towards me I saw both a blazing anger and fear in her eyes.

"Fine? His emotions are off because of your _friend_. How could he be fine?" Elena exclaimed with an exasperated tone and I took a deep calming breath before I spoke again.

"What are you doing?" I asked as I watched her attempt to stand up and I quickly caught her, when she fell forwards and down on the floor once more. Even though the wound was healed and she wasn't bleeding anymore, she had still lost a lot of blood. Combined with the stress she was probably feeling, it was no wonder that she could barely stand on her feet.

"I need to…" Elena started with a frustrated voice and I watched her frown in concentration as she tried standing up again. "Tyler, he's… I need to save him."

"Tyler will live, Elena. But you have to sit down before you fall again." I told her calmly as I reached out and caught her hand to slowly pull her downwards. She tried to push me away, but didn't manage to and in the end she seemed to give up.

I made her lay down on the floor with her head in my lap and even though she seemed uncomfortable, she didn't protest. It seemed like all will to fight back had left her and I noticed her glance towards Stefan's body.

"I still need to get out of here. Klaus will come back." Elena said with a weak voice after a couple of minutes and I felt how a big knot seemed to form in my stomach.

"I am so sorry, Elena but I don't think Klaus will let you go. At least not for now. Your blood is what finishes the transition to becoming a hybrid." I told her with a low voice and my fingers calmed through Elena's hair in a futile attempt to comfort the scared teenager.

"What? No, I can't… he can't just take me. I need to get out of here, you need to help me." Elena pleaded as she fought against my hold on her and I watched how tears filled her eyes.

"I will keep you safe, Elena, but you cannot run from Niklaus." I told her with a firm voice as I tried to reason with her, but the teenage girl kept fighting and with a sigh I placed my hand on her forehead. The spell to make her sleep was simple and after a few seconds her eyes closed and her breathing became deeper and deeper.

* * *

><p>"Where am I?"<p>

Elena's hoarse voice pulled me out of my dark thoughts and I quickly moved to the side of her bed as she looked around the hospital room. Her foggy mind seemed to slowly clear up when she noticed me and her eyes widened in what I recognized as fear, making me sick to my stomach.

"You are in the hospital. Lay still, you have lost a lot of blood." I told her and ran a hand over her forehead as to check her temperature, making her flinch away from me. Her eyes then seemed to catch a glimpse of something and she slowly tried to sit up as she reached out for a blood bag on a table nearby.

"Wait, you're taking my blood?" she asked with a shock expression on her face and I cursed the nurse for leaving the filled blood bag where Elena could see it.

"This is the best way, Elena. Klaus needs your blood and this way I might be able to convince to let you stay here in Mystic Falls." I said with an insistent voice, but Elena didn't seem to understand my reasoning – hell, I barely did – and I hardly managed to stop her before she pulled out the needle from her arm and ran.

"Elena, I am sorry, but you have to stay here. You have to trust me." I ushered as I pinned her to the bed with my hands and called for a nurse. Elena looked at me with a familiar fire in her eyes and I remembered seeing that look in Tatia's eyes a couple of times. The similarity was uncanny and I took a step back in surprise while the nurse gave Elena a sedative, making her fall asleep in mere seconds.

I slumped back into the chair that stood against the wall and pinched the bridge of my nose with a tired sigh. Everything was spinning out of control and I had nothing or no one to hold onto. My vision started becoming blurry as tears filled my eyes and as I didn't have the strength to fight them, I let them fall without even caring to wipe them away.

I clamped my hand over my mouth when a laugh suddenly escaped me but there was no one awake to hear me and soon I could barely stop myself. It felt like a weird reaction to everything that had happened, but I couldn't help but laugh at how stupid and naïve I had been.

My faith in Niklaus had completely overshined any logic my brain was whispering to me and I could suddenly see myself as a child, stomping in the ground because things didn't go as I wanted. I had talked about Elena as if she was a child, when in reality she had the sense to realize that Niklaus in fact was the monster he claimed to be.

My problem was that I actually cared, even loved, the hybrid and Niklaus knew it. He could do whatever and I would still stand by his side, hoping to save him from himself. He had made Stefan kill two teenagers, Chad and Dana, and yet here I was, watching his most prized possession.

The tears disappeared as fast they had come and I stopped laughing, leaving only the beeping of Elena's heartbeat to fill the sudden silence. I then rose from my seat and walked to a bathroom across the hall from Elena's room. After a couple of minutes I looked like myself again and I found myself staring into the mirror, watching my own reflexion.

"I am strong. I survive." I mumbled to the woman I saw in front of me and I watched how determination and confidence shone from her.

Worse things than Niklaus Mikaelson had happened to me and if he thought I would give up he was terribly mistaken. As impossible as it sounded, I was going to put my own feelings aside and fight fire with fire. If Niklaus wanted a powerful witch, I was certainly going to give him one.

As I re-entered Elena's room I walked to the end of her bed and looked down at her sleeping figure. I couldn't let Niklaus take her away from her friends and family, not after everything else he had put her through.

It took me a moment's thought to decide what to do and without hesitation I put up an invisible wall; preventing all vampires from entering the hospital room. Niklaus would be no less than furious when he found out, but at least he would finally understand that I was being serious. Deadly serious.

I placed myself in the chair by the wall again, but this time I felt calm and collected. An hour passed without any interruptions and I felt myself grow tired just watching Elena sleep. My head snapped towards the door when I heard someone walk down the hall and my body tensed at the thought of facing Niklaus.

"What the hell?" the vampire exclaimed silently, when he was stopped in the doorway and it took me a moment to recognize Stefan's brother, Damon Salvatore. He looked at me with his piercing blue eyes and he seemed to remember me as well.

"You must be Damon Salvatore." I said as I stood up and he sent me an irritated glare before he pushed against the invisible wall once more.

"And you're Klaus' girlfriend. It's a pleasure." Damon answered, using the same snarky voice he had used in Gloria's bar. "If you don't want your head on a stick anytime soon, I suggest you let me in, witch."

"First of all, I am Malina and certainly not Klaus' girlfriend. Second of all… what do you want with Elena?" I asked hesitantly and moved closer to the Salvatore vampire, my eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Honestly, I really don't care who you are and I'm going to take her home." Damon told me and I could hear the worry in his voice as he looked past to the sleeping girl.

"How did you get in here?" I then asked with my arms crossed in front of me. I knew Niklaus and Rebekah were outside the hospital and I doubted they would just let Damon pass.

"I walked." Damon told me with a roll of his eyes and I felt my patience disappear.

"Niklaus is outside. He wouldn't just let you in." I argued and felt myself frown, when a smirk suddenly appeared on Damon's lips.

"Your not-boyfriend has left the building, probably even skipped town about now. He wasn't too excited about having a reunion with a certain Mikael." Damon told me casually and I managed to choke down a gasp at the mention of Niklaus' father. If they had found him and he was coming to Mystic Falls, I couldn't really get myself to blame Niklaus for leaving. Had he taken Rebekah with him?

"I see. And is this Mikael in Mystic Falls now?" I asked innocently, but Damon clearly had me figured out and there was a mischievous gleam in his eyes.

"Won't be long." Damon replied with a small tilt of his head, but the teasing stopped as soon as Elena stirred behind me. "Now let me in."

I rolled my eyes at his attempt to compel me and I knew that his patience was running out as well.

"I will, but remember that even though I saved you from Niklaus in Chicago, I will not hesitate to hurt if you come after me." I warned him with a pointed finger and he seemed to asses my strength as he studied me for a long moment.

"Fine. Consider this as me paying my debt. My life for your life. Are we clear?" Damon replied with a cold voice and I took several steps back before I nodded and removed the barrier.

Damon was by Elena's side with three long strides and I stood by the wall as I watched him disconnect her from the machines and tubes around her. He paused to look at the tube where her blood had run through and I was suddenly worried about Damon losing control.

"Damon…" Elena's voice brought our attention away from the blood and to the girl on the bed who was slowly waking up. I tried to hide behind Damon, knowing that Elena probably didn't like me very much at the time being.

"Hey." Damon whispered to her and I knew just by hearing his voice that he cared greatly about the girl. He quickly pushed her cover to the side and scooped her into his arms with ease. I stayed in the room for a moment after they had left before I grabbed the filled blood bags and went to find the nurse that Niklaus had compelled.

The hospital seemed the best place to hide them before Niklaus decided to come for them. I had no idea where he had gone or if he was coming back any time soon, but maybe this would mean that Elena and her friends could have some peace, if only just for a little time.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I hope Malina's role made sense in all of this mess. The spells I make her use is a bad google translation from English to Latin. We get to know more of her powers in later chapters and some fun twists come into play as well. I know some of you are looking forward to Kol's appearance, but it might be some time before he appears. The first chapters are going to focus on Malina's history, her character in general and her relationship with Klaus. There'll be a few other P. from now on, but until I write otherwise it is all in Malina's P.O.V. :)**

**Thanks for reading! Hope you liked it;) **


	5. Chapter 5 - Part one

**So there's gonna be quite a lot of different P.O.V.s in this chapter. Which will be more the exception for the rule.  
><strong>**Hopefully it won't be too hard to keep up since I've marked the changing in POV.  
>Awesomesauce. Enjoy!<strong>

* * *

><p><em><strong>Third person P.O.V.<strong>_

"Where the bloody hell are you, Nik?" Rebekah sneered into the phone as she answered her brother's call. It was half an hour since he had asked her to go get the car and she was growing more impatient each minute her brother and Malina hadn't returned.

"_Calm yourself, Rebekah_." Klaus ordered with a sigh and Rebekah clenched her fist until her knuckles turned white. Some of her irritation disappeared when she suddenly saw Malina walking towards her from the hospital and she was surprised by the sight of the witch, who looked more confident and determined than Rebekah had ever seen her.

"Let me speak to him." Malina said and reached out for the phone, making Rebekah frown at her bossing tone. She studied the dark-skinned witch for a long moment and something about Malina seemed fundamentally different from the woman she used to know.

"_Give the phone to Malina._" Klaus spoke on the other end as he had heard Malina's voice through the phone. Rebekah let out an irritated huff before she gave the phone to Malina, who unceremoniously held it to her ear as if the strange device wasn't a mystery to her.

"I just had a lovely conversation with Mr. Damon Salvatore." Malina said with a cold voice that surprised both of the Original siblings. "I am guessing that you are far away already?"

"_He told you about Mikael? Well, I still need to pick up a few things before I leave._" Klaus responded with feigned casualty and Malina met the confused stare of Rebekah, who was listening in on their conversation.

"You leave Elena alone." Malina almost growled and Rebekah raised her eyebrows at the tone of her voice. The witch wasn't begging anymore and she seemed to have given up on bargaining as well. Instead there was a hidden warning in her voice that clearly told Klaus to back off.

"_Relax Malina, I will let the girl be for now. All I need is for you to grab the blood bags and then I'll come pick you up._" Klaus told her as if it made perfect sense and Malina took a deep breath to calm herself, noticing the hurt look in Rebekah's eyes as well.

"And what of your sister?" Malina asked calmly, but her voice was clearly strained and Klaus frowned at the phone in his hand.

"_She's a big girl, sweetheart. Besides, she was always Mikael's favourite so he won't hurt her._" Klaus replied, his voice irritated and impatient. Rebekah stood in front of Malina, looking ready to destroy something in rage and Malina tried sending her a comforting smile.

"Your blood bags are in the hospital with the nurse you compelled so you can go get them yourself. I think I will stay and keep an eye on all of the mess you have left behind." Malina retorted with anger and she heard Klaus sigh on the other end.

"_Stefan is already looking out for the doppelgänger and I leave Rebekah to take care of my new hybrid. There is no need for you in Mystic Falls, sweetheart. And I thought you were eager to bond with your best friend?_" Klaus mocked, making Malina all the more furious.

"Go to hell! I am not going on some road trip with you to make more of your silly hybrids. I am tired of watching you kill and torture innocent people, Niklaus. And I am done acting like your pet. If you want a powerful witch, you just watch me." Malina sneered into the phone before she hung up and tossed it back to Rebekah, who wore a shocked expression on her face.

"Well, I suppose we need somewhere to stay then." Rebekah said when she had recovered from Malina's outburst. The witch was still fuming and didn't seem to hear a word of what Rebekah was saying. "At least we still have Nik's car."

When a sudden wind began to pick up Malina realized that she had to control her emotions if she didn't want to create a tornado and after a couple of calming breaths she got into the black SUV with Rebekah in the driver's seat. It took the blonde several minutes to figure all the functions of the modern car, but luckily she had driven one before.

_**Malina P.O.V.**_

I leaned my head against the window as we drove through the town and almost out of it, passing over a bridge and onto a road surrounded by trees. I didn't even think about our destination before a large house – if you could call it that – suddenly towered over us and a sign told that it was a boarding house.

Before I could protest, Rebekah had pulled all of the bags with her new clothes from the car and marched over to the front door, leaving me to follow. My thoughts were in a whole other world, when Rebekah knocked on the door and a familiar face opened.

"Where's Stefan?" Rebekah asked without introducing herself and walked past Damon, who was staring at me incredulously.

"Malina?" he asked in confusion and I just shrugged, having no other answer to give him before I followed Rebekah into the house.

"Who the hell are you?" Damon then called after Rebekah and closed the door after us.

"He left me here, my brother actually left me here." Rebekah told someone I guessed to be Stefan, completely ignoring both Damon and I. Of course, Niklaus hadn't left me since I chose to stay but I still felt a little left out. Damon stared at me for a long moment, clearly not happy with my presence but I just sighed and walked after Rebekah.

"Oh, I'm sorry, your tone implies that I'm actually supposed to care." I heard Stefan say from somewhere inside the house and I moved to stand beside Rebekah, who was staring at the Salvatore brother. My stomach churned when I saw the scene in front of me and I took a step back in shock.

Stefan was sitting in a sofa, casually leaned back as he looked at Rebekah with a bored expression on his face. On the floor in front of him lied some sort of mat with different coloured spots on, but it was the girls who was playing around on top of it that made me nauseas.

The three of them were wearing revealing clothing and a dark red substance that only could be blood was smeared all over their skin. I glared at Stefan with disgust which he returned with a smirk and I had to force myself to not look away.

"And what about you? I thought Klaus would take you with him?" Stefan asked as he watched me with a disinterested look in his eyes before he moved them back to the giggling girls on the floor.

"I decided to stay as someone needs to play the adult around here." I replied with a detached voice and sent Damon a quick disapproving look that he didn't seem to notice.

"Did you hear that, brother?" Stefan called and waited until Damon was in his sight again before talking. "Instead of chasing after my girlfriend, you should just hook up with Malina here. Then mommy and daddy can watch the kids together."

"Who are you?" Damon asked Rebekah indignantly, ignoring Stefan's comment but I couldn't help but notice the small twitch in the corner of his mouth that showed his irritation. And then my mind went to Stefan's words about Damon chasing after Elena. What was going on here?!

"Rebekah, Klaus' sister. Pleasure, I'm sure." Rebekah told him and quickly turned her head to send Damon a fake smile before looking to Stefan again. "Which one is my room?"

"You're not staying here." Stefan laughed and Damon shook his head when Rebekah turned towards him.

"Rude. Both of you." she chastised and I felt myself smile, when Rebekah's motherly instincts suddenly seemed to appear. She glanced at me for a short moment and rolled her eyes, when I just shrugged at her, not sure what she wanted from me.

"I see to it myself." Rebekah then said before spinning around, walking out of the room and past an irritated Damon.

"Well, I guess she's staying here." Stefan said with a shrug and then looked at me expectantly. I glanced around the room for a long moment and received a glare from Damon when my eyes landed on him before I sighed heavily.

"I would love nothing more than to get very far away from you, but since I am going to keep an eye on you I guess this would be the best place to stay." I told Stefan with my arms crossed in front of me and I heard Damon groan behind me. "Would you mind?"

"Yes!" Damon exclaimed as he gestured wildly with his hands and I sent him an apologetic smile.

"No, not at all!" Stefan then said with a nonsensical voice and a wide smile that wasn't directed towards me. "Please, make yourself at home."

"Not likely, but I will need a room." I replied and turned to Damon, who seemed to have given up. He looked at me for a long moment before he motioned with his head to follow me, which I did hesitantly.

A loud gasp escaped me and I could feel the bile rise in my mouth, when I saw the two dead girls that were lying at the foot of the stairs. Damon stopped to look at me and I frowned at the smirk on his lips.

"Welcome to Casa de Salvatore."

* * *

><p>The parking lot and surrounding grounds were filled with excited and nervous teenagers, ready to start a new school year; some of them their first and some their last. Rebekah and I were going to attend senior year like Elena and her friends in an attempt to stay as close to them as possible.<p>

Besides, I was too old to attend any other year as I technically was twenty-two years old – more than four years older than most of them. I had already received some strange looks and a freshman had mistaken me for a teacher, making Rebekah laugh when I hadn't been able to answer his questions.

I felt nervous as we walked away from the school's office after Rebekah had compelled our way into the school and I looked at my new schedule, surprised by how many hours I was going to spend in this place.

It was strange being back in the halls that had been the scene of a horror show a couple of days earlier but of course that didn't seem to faze Rebekah, who strode down the hall confidently.

I, on the other hand, looked like a headless chicken as I walked around; trying to remember the instructions we had been given by the secretary. I had never before sat foot in such a crowded place and the only education I had ever received was my mother's, which mostly included medical care and Latin.

At least that meant that I could read and write the Latin alphabet and not just in runes, but the English language had evolved during the last millennium and there were thousands of words I had no idea what meant. The idea of learning so many new things both intrigued and scared me.

"Look at that. Tyler's preppy little girlfriend is the It-girl here. Who would've thought." Rebekah drawled from her place beside my locker as I placed most of my newly-out handed books in it. I turned my head to follow her gaze and watched as a pretty blonde girl talked to some other girls, handing them a flyer with a wide smile on her face before giving them a hug, which they happily returned.

Tyler's girlfriend was clearly a vampire and a very popular one at that. Not that her peers seemed to know what hid beneath the girl's bubbly façade and blue eyes. I tilted my head slightly as I continued to study her and I didn't notice the smile that spread on my lips before I saw Rebekah's scowl.

"What?" I asked as I looked away from the girl and back at the other blonde beside me that had a familiar glint in her eyes. "She seems nice. And surprisingly positive for someone who just had their boyfriend turned into a hybrid."

"It makes me wanna puke." Rebekah stated and scrunched her nose in feigned disgust. I had already deciphered the look in her eyes and it didn't look good for Tyler's girlfriend; Rebekah was jealous and she was definitely going to do something about it.

"Leave her alone, Rebekah." I warned with a low voice and the blonde Original looked at me in surprise. Niklaus wasn't the only one I was standing up to and if necessary I would hurt Rebekah to keep her from creating more chaos in the teenagers' lives.

"Look at you being all bossy and stuff. Don't worry, Malina, I'm not going to touch her. I'm just going show everybody how much better I am. Because there can only be one Queen Bee at this school and Caroline Forbes isn't it." Rebekah said with a mischievous smirk on her lips and disappeared before I could say more.

I closed my locker a little harder than intended, earning a glare from some of the other students and leaned against it with a sigh. I felt a pair of eyes on me and saw Bonnie looking at me from further down the hall. I offered her a small smile but all she did was frown before she turned and walked away.

When I then looked back at Caroline, I was surprised to see the blank look on her face as she stood in the middle of the hall, staring at the flyers in her hands. She was clearly lost in thought and it almost hurt me to see the happy girl look so sad.

"Hello." I greeted gently as I stood in front of her and I couldn't help but smile when I saw her jump a little in surprise.

"Oh, hi. I'm sorry, I just have a lot on my mind." Caroline apologized and then forced a bright smile back to her face. It suddenly hit me that Caroline still hadn't met me and probably didn't know who I was. I hoped her friends had at least told her about me since I was the "enemy" and all, but it felt nice to not be judged by my company for once.

"That is perfectly fine." I assured her and she seemed a little taken aback by my choice of words. Even after two months of living with Emma, I mostly still talked like I had before I went to sleep and I didn't blame her for her surprise.

"Do you need help with anything?" Caroline asked politely and her blue eyes seemed to study me with both curiosity and openness. "The teacher's lounge is that way."

"Oh no, I am not a teacher. Today is my first day as a senior." I told her with a laugh and her hand quickly dropped from where she had been pointing towards with a slightly horrified expression on her face.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry! You just look old… I mean _older_. Not that you don't look young, because you clearly are and I'm just going to stop talking now." Caroline rambled and her cheeks flushed pink as she continued to embarrass herself. Our eyes met for a short moment before we both broke out laughing and I could see in her eyes how Caroline collected herself before she offered her hand.

"Hi, I'm Caroline Forbes. I'm a senior as well." Caroline officially presented herself and I took her hand after a moment's hesitation that the blonde vampire didn't seem to notice. The cold feeling of dead and darkness prickled on my skin, but I managed to hold back a shiver and shake Caroline's hand with a smile.

"Nice to meet you, Caroline. I am Malina." I told her slowly, awaiting any response to my name that she might have. Caroline blinked in surprise a couple of times before she slowly withdrew her hand and leaned away from me with uncertainty in her eyes.

"Bonnie told me about you." Caroline said and I couldn't tell if she was more angry, scared or curious. I tried smiling at her again, but her eyes just narrowed in suspicion and I heard myself sigh. "You're Klaus' witch."

"I am not Klaus' witch." I told her which made her flinch as my words came out a little too harsh.

"Why are you here?" Caroline asked with a sudden confidence in her voice and I had to hide a smile. Rebekah would certainly have to put up a good fight if she wanted Caroline of the throne. "You got the wrong girl, you know. Elena is over there, she's the important one."

"What?" I asked exasperated, not sure what Caroline meant and took one glance at Elena, who was talking to someone on her phone. I frowned when I saw the scarf around her neck that covered Stefan's bite and then turned my attention back to Caroline, who was watching me intently.

"If you want to be 'friends' with someone, you should pick Elena. She's Klaus' new accessory isn't she?" Caroline said and I heard how the anger in her voice grew.

"Caroline, I did not come to talk to you because I wanted to be Elena's friend. And Elena might be important to Klaus but are you not his first hybrid's girlfriend? That does not make you unimportant." I tried to reason with her as I suddenly found myself wanting Caroline's acceptance.

"So you are only talking to me because of Tyler?" she asked and irritation laced her words, making me realise that she had misinterpreted my words.

"No, that came out wrong. This has nothing to do with Tyler, even though you should be careful with him." I told her and sent her a warning look that made her frown and cross her arms in front of her. "I just… Just know that I am not here to hurt you or your friends. I am only here to help."

"Why should I trust you?" she asked suspiciously and I sent her a strained smile that seemed to make her uneasy.

"For now I guess you have no reason to. Even though I did safe your friend Matthew from dying." I told her with a shrug and her eyes widened at that small piece information. Apparently Bonnie Bennett hadn't told her friends everything. "I just want to be your friend, Caroline. Nothing more."

"Why me?" Caroline called as I started walking away, passing Elena who stood by her locker and talked into her phone. I stopped a couple steps away from the brunette, who seemed to notice me and I turned around to look at Caroline with a smile.

"Why not?" I replied and disappeared around a corner, leaving Elena and Caroline to stare after me. I smiled to myself as I continued down the hall, almost falling to the floor when I bumped into a hard body, but I was caught by a pair of strong hands.

"There you are! You just left without me this morning." Stefan fake-pouted as he looked down on me and I felt his hands tighten around my arms, making me wince slightly in pain.

I had endured my time in the boarding house so far by staying away from Stefan in the safety of my room and he hadn't seemed very interested in me either. Damon had luckily disposed of the dead bodies on the stairs and gotten the remaining three girls out alive after I had offered to teach his brother a little about pain. I didn't want to hurt anyone, but I wasn't going to let innocent people die either.

"What are you doing here?" I asked through my teeth and a sadistic smirk spread on his lips as he let go of me and stepped around me.

"Well, I'm actually enrolled here. And Klaus did compel me to protect Elena before he left, so here I am: finishing high school for the fiftieth time." Stefan told me and gestured with his arms towards the lockers.

His eyes were void of emotion as he talked, but I could still hear the irritation in his voice. Stefan had walked away and rounded the corner before I could speak again and I followed him with a sigh. When I had him in sight again, I walked towards him with long strides.

Stefan was harassing Elena but I couldn't hear what they were saying. Elena tried to walk past him, but Stefan grabbed her arm and pointed the other way. Elena was standing with her back towards me, but I could sense her need to get away from her 'boyfriend' and I grabbed Stefan's arm as soon as I reached them.

Stefan's hand loosened around Elena's arm as I made dark veins spread on the vampire's arm, causing pain to course through him. Elena stepped away with a shocked expression on her face and looked at me with wide eyes. Stefan was glaring down at me, but he was paralysed by the pain and couldn't do anything as I sent Elena away.

"Go, Elena." I ordered with a low voice without looking away from Stefan. My concentration broke when the door to the bathroom suddenly opened behind me and I heard Caroline and Tyler exit.

"Elena?" Caroline questioned when she saw her scared friend and then their gasp mixed with my own yelp, when I was suddenly pushed against the lockers by Stefan. I felt multiple eyes on me as students passed by and in the corner of my eye I saw the three teenagers tense.

"That was new." Stefan muttered impressed and pressed himself harder against me, making us look like a hormonal couple that was going to have some sort of make-out session in the middle of the hallway. His face came closer to mine and my breath hitched, when his lips brushed mine lightly. He then traced them down my cheek until I could feel his breath against my ear.

"It's a lucky thing that Klaus has compelled me not to hurt you." Stefan whispered into my ear and I felt myself shiver. My knees almost buckled when Stefan's body suddenly wasn't against mine and I was shocked to see Tyler's back in front of me. The newly-made hybrid was heaving and I could see all of his muscles tense underneath his skin.

"Don't touch her." Tyler growled and looked around him to see Stefan get up from the floor with a dangerous smile on his lips. An arm was suddenly wrapped around my waist and I was surprised to see Caroline looking at me worriedly as she pulled me over towards Elena before standing in front of us protectively.

"Well, it looks like you got yourself a bodyguard, Malina." Stefan commented casually and dusted himself off, making Caroline look confusingly between Tyler and me.

"Hey! What's going on here?" A voice suddenly called from the other end of the hall and I turned around to see a man walk towards us; probably a teacher. I was surprised by the worried glance he sent Elena as he got closer and I noticed his body tense when he laid his eyes on Stefan and Tyler.

"Everything is completely fine, Mr. Saltzman." Stefan said with a mocking smile and held up his hands in surrender before walking off. It took me a few seconds to figure out that the teacher was in on the whole thing as he placed a comforting hand on the shocked doppelgänger's shoulder and shared a look with Caroline.

"Nothing to see here!" Mr. Saltzman called out and the small audience of students dismantled. Caroline had moved to stand in front of her boyfriend and she held her hand against his cheek to calm him down. Mr. Saltzman finally seemed to notice me and he looked at me suspiciously before turning his eyes back to Elena.

The two of them seemed to have a silent conversation before they walked off and I took a shaky breath as I glided down to the floor against a locker, not realising until then that I had held my breath. I cursed myself for being weak as my body continued to tremble and I suddenly felt like I was hyperventilating.

"Malina?" a voice asked gently and I looked up to find a pair of blue eyes staring down at me.

"I am fine. You should go to class, Caroline." I said determinedly, but instead of sounding strong, I just sounded out of breath as I continued my struggle to breathe properly.

"Yeah, not really. First of all, you're crying and second of all, I think you're having a panic attack." Caroline told me, her voice firm and confident as she pulled me to my feet. "You need to stop hyperventilating."

"How?" I choked and wiped my hands over my cheeks, surprised to find that Caroline was right about the crying.

"Forget about Stefan and think about something else. He's not going to hurt you, okay? Not with Tyler as your bodyguard, apparently." Caroline urged and her voice was sincere despite her obvious irritation about Tyler's new job.

"Sorry." I breathed and tried to send her smile that just became a weird grimace.

"I'm pretty sure that one is on Klaus. Like everything else. You shouldn't apologize for others' wrong-doing." Caroline chastised with a friendly tone and I frowned when I heard Rebekah's words repeated to me. Maybe they should try being friends instead of fighting each other.

"I can't…" I started, but had to cut myself of as dizziness overwhelmed me. This wasn't about forgetting Stefan; I could handle him. This was about what memories had resurfaced because of Stefan's touch and words.

It wasn't Stefan's voice that was threatening me; it was my late husband's. And it wasn't Stefan's lips I could still feel burning against my skin; it was Jason's. It didn't help me to know that I was safe, because the person I was most afraid of was already dead and had been so for a thousand years.

And yet, he haunted me in my dreams and I still felt nauseous when other men touched me the way Stefan had. I might have survived worse things than Niklaus Mikaelson, but they were still following me around like a shadow attached to my soul.

"I can compel you to stop." Caroline suggested hesitantly, but I shook my head. I had vervain in my system so it wouldn't work even if I wanted her to. "Okay. Then I really need you to focus on what normally calms you down."

For some reason all I could think about was Kol. He had always had that effect on me and I smiled to myself as I imagined him looking at me with those brown eyes of his and that annoying but really gorgeous smirk he always wore. I almost laughed when I suddenly found myself wishing for Niklaus' presence as well and my eyes shot open as I realised that my breathing had gone back to normal.

"It worked!" Caroline exclaimed happily and I was surprised when she flung her arms around me; hugging me tightly. She then stepped back and found a pack of Kleenex that she used to remove any trace of my breakdown from my face. "Do I want to know what got you breathing again?"

"Probably not." I laughed as we started walking down the now empty hall towards the class we had to attend next. Apparently I shared an almost similar schedule with Caroline and next was history with Mr. Saltzman, or Alaric as Caroline called him.

"It's crazy how your calming thoughts might start a panic attack for me." Caroline said with a shake of her head before opening the door to the already filled classroom, interrupting Alaric who had begun his lesson.

"You're late, Miss Forbes." Alaric told Caroline with a warning glare that seemed to be more for the benefit of the rest of the class and Caroline sent him an apologetic smile before taking one of the two remaining seats. "And miss…"

"Malina Ayanason." I quickly said and placed myself next to Caroline. I could feel Rebekah stare at me from the front row but I kept my eyes on the teacher.

"That's an…" Alaric trailed off as he looked down his list of names as if to check that I was telling the truth.

"An unusual name, I know." I told him with a smile, which he returned after a quick glance at Elena. I didn't know what their connection what, but he clearly trusted her judgement.

"Very well, let's continue. As I said we're going to start this year with American history."

* * *

><p><em><strong>Caroline P.O.V.<strong>_

"Are you okay?" I asked attentively and looked at the witch beside me with a small frown. Malina had been staring at the open book in front of her for the last ten minutes and a blank expression was on her face. She didn't seem to have noticed that Alaric had ended the lesson and that our classmates were leaving.

"Caroline!" Elena called from the door across the room and I turned my head to look at her, receiving meaningful glare that I chose to ignore for the time being.

"Just a minute." I called back before looking at Malina, who seemed to have awoken. She was looking at Elena too and a sheepish expression was on her face as if it was her fault that I didn't listen to my best friend. "Malina?"

"I am fine, Caroline. It was nice of you to ask." Malina told me solemnly and sent me a genuine smile that I couldn't help but return. There was something about the way she spoke that was off. She talked as if she had just jumped into the seat from another century and I had to force myself to not let my curiosity get the better of me.

"Are you sure? Having a panic attack is a pretty serious thing, you know. Maybe you should go to the nurse?" I suggested and received a puzzled look from the witch. She was probably surprised that I actually cared and truth be told I wasn't sure why I did. She was with Klaus after all and was supposedly the enemy.

I wondered if she was _with_ Klaus. Bonnie had said something about them just being friends but I didn't know where she got that from. It wouldn't be that ludicrous if they were. I mean I had eyes; Klaus wasn't ugly.

"I really am okay." Malina insisted, shaking me out of my thoughts and I was suddenly glad that mindreading only existed in Twilight. "I think Elena wants to speak with you."

"Oh, yeah. I'll see you later?" I asked with a smile, not sure whether Malina would be attending anymore classes that day.

"Sure." Malina said with a nod and returned the smile before I spun on my heels and walked out of the classroom with Elena and Bonnie at my sides.

"What are you doing, Caroline?" Elena asked urgently as we walked down the hall towards our lockers.

"What do you mean?" I asked with a frown, confused by her alarmed state. I watched Elena and Bonnie share a quick look as we stopped walking and I opened my locker with a sigh. They were always doing this; having silent conversations without me.

"You shouldn't be talking with Malina. It's not safe." Elena continued and I felt an irritation grow inside me that I had to choke back with another sigh.

"Why? Look, I know she's with Klaus but I don't think she is going to hurt us. Quite the opposite, actually." I retorted with my arms crossed in front of me and I noticed how Elena clenched her fist in irritation.

The hallway was starting to fill up with nosy teenagers and I pulled Elena and Bonnie into the girls' bathroom before Elena started speaking again. I quickly checked the booths for people and turned towards my friends when I was sure we were alone.

"Just because she says that, doesn't mean we can trust her." Elena argued and I felt my determination falter for a moment before I was remembered what Malina had done for Elena just an hour ago.

"No, but didn't she save you from Stefan earlier?" I countered with a triumphant smile that made Bonnie roll her eyes. She probably thought this was another one of my attempt to one up Elena, which of course was completely wrong. I just knew I was right. "And she told me that she has saved Matt's life as well."

"She probably only helped me with Stefan because Klaus doesn't want him making trouble and she's here to babysit him. Stefan can't hurt me anyway; he's here to protect me, so I wasn't in danger." Elena retorted with a detached voice as she talked about her boyfriend. I sent her a comforting smile, but she just blinked and looked away. "And the whole Matt thing. You shouldn't just believe what she tells you, Caroline."

"That one is true, actually." Bonnie said hesitantly from the side and I turned to look at her with surprise. I didn't expect Malina to be lying, but I still found it odd for her to do if she really was against us.

"What do you mean? What happened?" Elena asked with a frown, apparently just as shocked as I.

"After Matt drowned himself I couldn't bring him back with CPR so Malina asked me to stop. She used magic to bring him back instead." Bonnie told us with a sigh and looked to the ground as if she was embarrassed.

"Wait, she asked you to stop and you just did?" Elena asked incredulously and sighed as she missed the point in Bonnie's story: Malina had saved Matt's life.

"She asked me if I trusted her and I said yes." Bonnie explained and Elena's eyes seemed widen in shock.

"I don't think she actually wanted to save Matt. I just think she needed to know what he found out from the ghosts about the hybrid curse." Elena concluded with a small nod and I felt my frustration grow.

"I don't know." Bonnie said timidly and I suddenly wasn't sure she actually agreed with Elena, making me hide a smile.

"Fine, let's say that she had some ulterior motive. She still saved him, didn't she? And didn't she also watch you at the hospital or something?" I tried with an exasperated voice as I gestured with my hands.

"She sedated me twice, Caroline. One of the times she just touched my forehead and I fell asleep." Elena exclaimed and gestured with her hands even more wildly than I had, making me take a small step back. "I don't even know why we are discussing this! Malina is with Klaus and therefore we can't trust her! Maybe she wants to keep us safe now, but what happens when we need to kill him, huh? Do you think she's just going to stand by and watch?"

"Okay! I get it!" I yelled higher than I meant to and my friends blinked in surprise before they started glaring at me accusingly. "I won't talk to her then. I just thought she needed a friend or something. She seems kind of lost and the whole Stefan thing really got to her. But I'm sorry for being considerate, it won't happen again."

"I didn't mean it like that, Care." Elena sighed and I had to talk a deep breath to calm down my heightened emotions.

"I know." I breathed and pinched the bridge of my nose when I felt the tiredness overwhelm me. I didn't really feel sorry that I had yelled, but didn't want to fight with Elena or Bonnie either. "I'm just really stressed because of the whole Tyler thing and school and all those committees I have to make time for now. I just thought… actually, I don't know what I thought."

"It's okay, Caroline." Bonnie told me as her hand glided down my arm in a comforting way, making me almost teary eyed as I looked at her. "You know you can talk to us, right? About Tyler, school, everything."

"I know." I told her with a small smile and then looked at Elena, who smiled at her reassuringly.

"Why did you want to be friends with Malina anyway?" Elena then asked as they exited the bathroom and my mouth fell open in shock over her question. I looked to Bonnie, who was watching me with curiosity and I felt my stomach turn. If I asked Elena such a question Bonnie would normally scold me.

"Because…" I said but stopped myself when I heard the finished sentence in my head: _Because she chose _me. That sounded childish and I wasn't that Caroline anymore. "I just thought she was nice."

"But that doesn't matter, because I got you two and that is all I need." I continued with a bright smile and looped my arms around theirs, creating a small chain as we walked down the hall.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Malina P.O.V.<strong>_

When the bell rang for the last time that day I looked up from my English text book, startled to discover that the day had passed already. Stefan hadn't bothered me again, but neither had Caroline who seemed to do her best to not talk to me. I could only imagine what Elena had told her and I quickly accepted that the only 'friend' I had here was Rebekah.

The Original blonde had of course been irritated by my late entrance with Caroline and had demanded to know what was going on. Her anger had subsided as soon as I had told her about my encounter with Stefan and for a moment it seemed like she was going to find the Salvatore vampire and rip him apart.

Rebekah didn't know it all, but she knew enough about my marriage to understand how much Stefan's actions might have scared me. We agreed not to tell Niklaus about it since we didn't see Stefan coming out alive if we did. Rebekah was mad at him, but she still had feelings for Stefan and I just didn't want to see him dead because of what Niklaus had essentially done to him.

I knew that Rebekah wasn't going home any time soon as she was still working on her plan to take over Caroline's life so I followed her out to a large field, where most of the students had begun their extra-curriculum sports activities. For now I had decided to just sit by and I placed myself on the bleachers from where I had an overview of everyone.

I spent a few minutes watching Caroline enter with a group of girls in training outfits and they placed themselves in a formation before they began to stretch. I then watched Tyler walk across the field towards his teammates and I was surprised when his eyes suddenly found mine.

Confusedly, I returned his small nod and then continued to laugh as he ran straight through the group of cheerleaders to kiss a startled Caroline. I knew that the blonde had heard me because our eyes met for a short moment before she turned around and continued stretching.

I rolled my eyes as Rebekah suddenly strolled into the scene and placed herself beside Caroline just as one of the cheerleaders asked a question I couldn't hear. Caroline spun around to face Rebekah with a shocked expression and I felt myself grow worried as I tried to decipher their words.

Caroline clearly wasn't happy with Rebekah's presence, but the Original didn't seem to care much and moments later she returned to stretch with the others, while Caroline looked around with concern in her eyes.

As their stretching continued uneventfully, my eyes wandered and I suddenly caught sight of Elena, who was running on a track at the other end of the field. She seemed to be unbothered and after a few minutes of watching her place one foot in front of the other, I withdrew my history book from my bag and opened it in my lap.

History had turned out to be both interesting and overwhelming, making me completely zone out in the end until Caroline called me back to the real world. I knew the headlines of what had happened in the world while I had been asleep from Emma, but it didn't feel like it was nearly enough.

"At least someone is doing their homework." a deep voice spoke from beside me, making me jump in shock and almost drop my book. With a hand over my rapidly beating heart I turned my head to see Alaric sit beside me with an amused but apologetic smile on his face. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

"Oh, it is fine. I was just caught up in the book." I told him with a friendly smile as I studied him intently. He looked like he was in his late twenties and I had to admit that he was handsome. But he was also my teacher and seemingly close to Elena so I shook any shameless thought I might have out of my head.

"I never thought I would hear that from a student's lips about a history book." Alaric laughed and glanced down at the book in my lap. I tilted my head slightly to the side as I continued to watch him, unsure of what he wanted.

"I find history fascinating." I told him sincerely and I watched him nod absentmindedly before he removed his eyes from the book and onto the field in front of us. "You wouldn't know where to find a history book about the last thousand years, would you?"

"American history doesn't go back that far. Or at least I don't teach about it." Alaric said with a frown on his forehead and I quickly shook my head.

"No, I am thinking more about the whole world." I explained with a smile and I almost laughed at the sight of his confusion.

"You're really into history, aren't you?"

"Very much so."

"Well, maybe the school library has some encyclopaedias, but I'm not sure they go back that far." Alaric said with a small shrug and I quickly wrote the strange word down in my notebook, receiving an interested look from the history teacher.

As I placed my notebook back into my bag, my eyes found Elena once again, but this time she wasn't alone. I sprung to my feet as soon as I saw Stefan come running behind her and I could already feel my magic course through me as if I was recharging. I was startled when I suddenly felt a hand around my wrist, pulling me down to sit on the bleachers and my eyes met Alaric's stern glare.

"She can handle him." he reassured me, not letting go of my wrist as we both sat by and watched Stefan push a boy, who accidentally ran into Elena. I let out the breath I didn't know I was holding and pulled my wrist from Alaric's grip as Elena ran from the track and Stefan.

"Why do you keep wanting to save Elena?" Alaric asked beside me after a minute of tense silence.

"Excuse me?" I replied incredulously, irritated by the fact that everyone seemed to question my motives.

"You sat with her in the hospital, you helped her with Stefan in the hallway and just now you were ready to come to her rescue again. Why?" Alaric explained and I could see the genuine curiosity in his eyes that made me relax a little.

"Because she does not deserve to have this life and I know that my friend is to blame for it, so I try to make up for what he has done to her." I told him with a firm voice and I was surprised by the intense stare I received in return.

"Who _are _you?" he asked with wonder and I couldn't help but frown at the question.

"I am Malina Ayanason, witch and the unfortunate friend of Niklaus, the hybrid." I told him with a smile that he didn't return. "But you probably already know that."

"Yes." Alaric replied with an emotionless voice and I noticed how his eyes found Rebekah on the field before he returned them to me. "But what I don't know is why you are friends with Klaus."

"This monster he pretends to be now is not 'my' Klaus. The man I know him to be is so different from the way you see him. I understand that you do not believe he still possesses any of the humanity I am trying to salvage because all he has ever brought you is death and sorrow.

"And I am truly sorry for all that Niklaus has put you through, but he was not born evil. He was a good man and whatever little that is left of him is my friend." I told slowly as I stared into nothing, reminiscing about the time when we were all human and life was so much easier.

"Malina Ayanason." Alaric said with a low voice after a long moment of silence and I blinked in surprise as I was pulled from my memories. "Not only is it unusual but it's also old, isn't it?"

I just shrugged as I closed my history book and concentrated on placing it in my bag. I could feel Alaric's eyes on me and after a long moment of not meeting them, I finally turned to look at him.

"Ayana. That is a woman's name, isn't it?" Alaric continued with a wondering tone in his voice and I nodded with a small smile on my lips, making him continue. "Your mother?"

"Yes." was all I said, not giving more away than what he had figured out himself. Their knowledge about Niklaus and his past seemed relatively limited and despite being mad at the hybrid, I didn't want to reveal more than necessary.

"Ayana_son_." Alaric spoke and I wasn't sure he was actually talking to me anymore. "Shouldn't it be Ayanadaugther or something like that?"

"It should, but I've found that people look at me strangely when I present myself as such." I explained with a small shrug and remembered the puzzled look on the receptionist's face when I first had checked into a hotel.

"Shouldn't you be named after your father?" Alaric asked curiously, obviously still trying to determine who I was exactly or rather how old I was.

"I should, but I am my mother's daughter." I informed the history teacher, not realising how cold my voice was until I saw the frown on his forehead.

My history with my father wasn't what you would call pretty and I still remembered the spiteful look on his face as he told I was to marry Jason; a young man, notorious for his bad temperament. That had been his punishment to my mother for having a girl and I would be damned if I were to carry his name around with me.

"What exactly are you trying to accomplish, Mr. Saltzman?" I asked impatiently, when he didn't come with any further remark and just continued to watch me.

"Know thy enemy." he replied with an almost apologetic smile and didn't look away as I absentmindedly stared at him. His words sounded rehearsed as if he was quoting someone and I tried to remember the name of the English author Emma had told me about.

"Shakespeare?" I guessed with uncertainty and Alaric blinked in surprise before he laughed at me, making me blush in embarrassment.

"Good guess, but no. That's from 'The Art of War'." Alaric explained and I noticed him smile endearingly when he saw the pink colour in my cheeks.

"There is a book called 'The Art of War'?" I asked incredulously and I could see how Alaric skimmed the surprised features in my face before he chuckled silently. "Niklaus probably has a copy."

"You keep calling him 'Niklaus'. Elijah did the same." Alaric said after a moment of silence and my head tilted to the left when I heard the Original's name, which for some reason made the history teacher smile.

"You have met Elijah?" I asked, curious to hear about Niklaus' older brother and what they thought of him.

"A couple of times. He has nice hair." Alaric revealed with an appreciative nod of his head that made me laugh. Our eyes met for a short moment and I couldn't help but frown at the surprise that shone from his.

"What?" I asked warily, not sure what to expect from the man beside me. One moment he was interrogating me and the next it almost seemed as if he was flirting.

"You know, things would be a lot easier if you were just evil." Alaric sighed and I shook my head at him disappointedly, making him raise his eyebrows in question.

"And what would that make you? All good? We are all heroes in our own stories, Mr. Saltzman." I said with a pointed glare and a small smile spread on his lips as our eyes met once more.

"I guess that makes me the villain in yours." He stated but it came out as a half-question and watched him thoughtfully.

"If you choose to be. As you might have noticed I am doing my best not to be one in yours." I replied with half a smile and could almost see how his guard towards me slowly went down.

A comfortable silence spread between us and I turned my gaze back to the field, feeling someone's eyes on me. I frowned when I found Tyler staring back at me, but he looked away when the coach suddenly yelled at him for stopping whatever he was doing.

I then turned my attention to the cheerleaders and only found Caroline, who seemed to be looking at Tyler as he strode over to his coach and told him something, clearly compelling the man. When I saw the coach give him a nod and tell everyone that training was over, I quickly placed my history book in my bag and stood up to follow Caroline towards Tyler.

"Excuse me, there's something I need to do. It was nice talking to you, Mr. Saltzman. Very… interesting." I told the history teacher with a small smile and he stood up as well, looking down at me before following my gaze to Tyler.

"You can call me Alaric, you know." he called after me as I walked past him and down the bleachers.

"I will see you later, Alaric." I said as I turned my head to look at him and gave him a nod, which he returned with a smile.

I crossed the field in long strides and as I came closer, I noticed that Caroline and Tyler were arguing. My eyebrows lifted in surprise when I heard Tyler talking about Klaus giving him a gift, but Caroline's reply was interrupted as Tyler turned his attention towards me.

"Hello Caroline. Tyler." I greeted with a smile and it felt like Tyler almost bowed, when he nodded at me.

"Hey." Caroline said with a light voice as she looked at the ground with an almost guilty expression on her face.

"I wanted to thank you for helping me with Stefan this morning." I told Tyler before the short silence between us got awkward and I felt Caroline's eyes return to me.

"No problem. He was being a dick." Tyler shrugged and I frowned at his choice of word, not sure what 'being a dick' meant exactly.

"Yes. About that, can I ask you a question?" I inquired and he gave me another shrug, which I took as an invitation to continue.

"Did Nik, I mean Klaus, say something about me before he left? Something about you protecting me or making sure nobody hurt me?" I asked warily and watched him carefully as he seemed to think about what his sire had told him before leaving. From the corner of my eye, I could see Caroline shift uncomfortably beside me, but I ignored her for now.

"No. He didn't really say much. Just that he was leaving town for a while and that I should enjoy my newfound freedom. He also said something about staying away from someone called Mikael, but that was it." Tyler replied and I heard Caroline irritatingly mumble something about freedom under her breath.

"So why did you help me?" I asked after a moment's contemplation. There was a confused expression on Tyler's face and Caroline seemed to be looking at her boyfriend with great curiosity.

"It just felt like the right thing to do." Tyler said hesitantly and he suddenly seemed unsure to why he had actually helped me.

"Like something you wanted to do or something you needed to?" I continued and I felt my heart beat a little faster as I realised what this might meant.

"I don't know. I didn't really think about it, I just did it." Tyler relayed and I could see the confusion in both Tyler and Caroline's faces. Before any of us could say more, a voice called out about the 'new girl' and we all turned to look towards the girl, who had drawn everyone's attention.

I withheld a sigh as I watched Rebekah run down the field before making a series of complicated jumps and flips, ending in a split as the other cheerleaders cheered on. She then turned her head to look straight at Caroline with a beaming smile and I noticed the impressed look Tyler was sending her.

"Oh God." Caroline groaned as she stared back at the Original blonde, not noticing that her boyfriend was smiling.

"Damn. Girl got moves." Tyler said before running back towards the school and we both looked after him incredulously.

Caroline then turned to glare at Rebekah again and the other blonde smiled back to her as she stood among Caroline's fellow cheerleaders. I couldn't help but roll my eyes and Rebekah sent me a challenging look when she caught it. I shook my head lightly and glanced quickly at Caroline, deciding that I should leave before she noticed that I was still there. I didn't want to force her to talk to me or make her feel like she was going against her friends for doing so.

"Malina!" Caroline's voice suddenly called after me as I started walking away and I turned around to look at her with what must have been a surprised look on my face, making Caroline look even more guilty. "Are you alright? I mean after the whole Stefan thing? You've seemed a little off all day."

"I am still fine, Caroline. You have been watching me?" I replied and added a teasing smile to my question, making the blonde smile as well.

"I was worried. And I care too much. It's my fatal flaw." Caroline laughed with a small tilt of her head, but the look in her eyes was sincere. "I'm sorry I've been ignoring you. I didn't mean to, I mean I did but… It's just really complicated."

"I understand that we are on different sides in this, Caroline, and I don't want you to feel like you are betraying your friends. And you really don't owe me anything. I did not save Elena and Matt because I wanted something in return; I just wanted to help. Do what feels right for you and nothing more." I told her attentively and she blinked in surprise at my words before smiling, almost shyly, at me.

"Hey! What are you doing tonight?" Caroline then asked just as I moved to leave.

"I have some reading to do." I informed her, padding my bag absentmindedly.

Especially math and physics had me baffled just by looking through the textbooks and I had a feeling that I would be spending a lot of time with an English dictionary to properly understand the novel we had been tasked to read by our English teacher.

"You should come to the bonfire tonight. Meet some new people, make friends and stuff like that." Caroline suggested with a small tilt of her head and there was almost a begging look in her eyes. It seemed as if she was trying to make up for the fact that she couldn't really talk to me by finding someone else and I couldn't help but smile a little.

"When and where?" I asked, suppressing a small sigh and quickly followed a beaming Caroline as she walked to a duffel bag and withdrew a flyer, similar to the ones she had been handing out earlier, from it.

"It's all in there." Caroline said and pointed at the flyer as she gave it to me. I nodded at her and tried to leave with an "I will see you later", but Caroline stopped me once again.

"Do you need a ride home?" she asked hesitantly and I couldn't decide whether she actually wanted to or still was trying to apologize for ignoring me. I felt a small suspicion grow inside me at her persistency and I couldn't but wonder if this was some task Damon had put her up to. Alaric's words rang in my head: _know thy enemy_.

"No, thank you. I think I will pay a visit to the library. Goodbye, Caroline." I replied with a stern voice, signalling that our conversation was over.

I wasn't mad at the blonde for ignoring me, but I needed to take a step back and figure out what was going on. I hadn't stood up to Niklaus just to be fooled by a bunch of teenagers. Caroline nodded at me timidly and I offered her a small smile before turning around, leaving the field the same way I entered.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I know the chapter ends sort of abruptly, but the "second part" will be uploaded soon. It would have been way too long if I didn't split it in half. Hoped you liked it anyways:)**


	6. Chapter 5 - Part two

**_Third person P.O.V_**

"I'll lure Stefan away from the bonfire and then when he's distracted-" Elena said as she leaned on her hands against Alaric's desk, while looking at Alaric and Caroline. Damon was sitting behind her, looking both irritated and bored.

"I'll shoot him." Alaric interrupted Elena, who let out a small sigh at the thought of harming Stefan.

"Can't Bonnie just juju him, or something?" Damon asked tiredly, leaning his head against the wall behind him. He understood that something needed to be done about his brother for Elena's sake, but he couldn't find the interest to get involved in their master plan to kidnap Stefan.

"I'm trying to keep Bonnie out of this. I don't trust that Stefan won't hurt her." Elena quickly said without looking at the older Salvatore, who all but rolled his eyes. What good was it to have a witch friend if you weren't willing to use her?

"Caroline," Elena continued and looked to her blonde friend, "are you covered?"

"Yes." Caroline responded with a firm voice and walked further into the class room they were gathered in. "I will make sure that the old Forbes jail cell is prepped and ready."

"You're forgetting a key player here. Actually two of them." Damon said from his seat at the window and they all turned their attention to the dark-haired vampire. "Rebekah and Malina? Wherever Stefan goes, the blonde ponytail tends to follow. And I think it's stupid to underestimate the wicked witch."

"Which is why it's your job to keep Rebekah away." Elena told him with a sigh and quickly thought through what options they had to keep Malina distracted. If only Caroline hadn't invited Malina, then the witch might not have been a problem at all.

"How? She's an Original and last time I checked, we're out of daggers." Damon protested and his voice slowly turned into a loud whisper, making Caroline roll her eyes. Damon, the drama queen, was back.

"So then preoccupy her with your charm." Elena said with shrug, clearly uncomfortable with her own suggestion, but it was the only plan she had.

"Might have better luck finding the dagger." Alaric commented dryly and Caroline couldn't help but smile at his words.

"Are you ever not gonna be mad at me, Ric?" Damon asked through his teeth, trying to hide his own annoyance.

"Doubtfully." Alaric responded and then seemed to think about his next words for a moment before continuing. "I don't think Malina is gonna be a problem. She's not exactly on Stefan's side after what happened earlier."

"You too, Ric?" Elena asked incredulously and glared at Caroline for short moment, who frowned in return. "Just because she helped me with Stefan, doesn't mean we can trust her. Do you seriously expect her to go against _Klaus_?"

"Wait, what are we talking about?" Damon interrupted as he stood up before Alaric could retort and the Salvatore vampire clearly sensed the tension in the room.

"Alaric and Caroline are apparently under the impression that we can trust Malina because she saved both Matt and me." Elena explained with a cold voice and Alaric held back a sigh. Wasn't this what he had talked with Malina about earlier that day? How, despite being the villain in their story, she was trying not to be? Elena surely wasn't making it easier for the witch.

"Trust her? Are you out of your tiny little minds?" Damon exclaimed almost angrily and a satisfied smile spread on Elena's lips as the vampire agreed with her. Caroline opened her mouth to reply, but Damon quickly cut her off.

"Malina needs to be distracted as well. And since you apparently like her so much, you are on Malina-duty until Elena is ready with Stefan." Damon told the history teacher with a pointed finger and Alaric felt his fist clench in irritation. What he wouldn't give to have a stake to put through Damon's stomach right this moment.

"And how do you expect me to distract her?" Alaric asked with a calm voice, even though the anger was evident beneath it.

"Use your charm." Damon said with a smirk, repeating Elena's words to him.

"I am a high school teacher and you want me to _flirt_ with an eighteen year old, who also happens to be my student?!" Alaric replied incredulously, making even Elena frown at Damon's plan. For some reason, that just spelled disaster to her.

"Actually, I am twenty-two but I guess that is beside the point." a female voice called from the doorway before anyone could answer Alaric and they all turned their attention towards Malina, who was leaning casually against the door frame. "And the flirting really won't be necessary."

A gasp escaped Caroline when she saw Damon launch forward as if to attack Malina, but he barely managed to take two steps, before he stopped almost mid-air and was pushed back into a chair that suddenly stood behind him.

"Please, Mr. Salvatore. Do not bother yourself for my sake." Malina told him calmly and let her raised hand fall to her side as she finished her spell. Damon was glaring at her angrily, even though he seemed free to stand up once more and Caroline had to hide a smile behind her hand.

"How much did you hear?" Elena asked warily and the witch eyed the doppelgänger for a long moment before taking a step forward while answering.

"Not much. Even though, I understand that there is a general mistrust towards me from the two of you." Malina said with a small tilt of her head as she looked between Damon and Elena. "And since you wish to distract me, I suppose this has something to do with Niklaus. I am guessing that you are finding Stefan a bit too liberated?"

"And what are you going to do about it?" Damon sneered at her, rising from the chair and pushing it aside.

"Nothing." Malina shrugged as she placed herself beside Caroline, who was smiling a little too brightly under the circumstances. "Unless you want my help."

"No." Elena said quickly and Malina gave her a small nod, while the others frowned. They may not trust her fully, but they could use a powerful witch as Malina.

"Very well. At least let me warn you about-" Malina started, but was interrupted when Tyler suddenly strode into the room; late for their little meeting.

"Too late." Malina murmured under her breath and she received a puzzled look from Caroline and Damon, who had both heard her.

"Sorry, I'm late. What's going on?" Tyler asked casually as his eyes glided through the room and stopped at Malina. "Malina. What are you doing here?"

"Oh, do not mind me." Malina told him with a brushing-off hand gesture and Damon frowned when the hybrid didn't question her presence further.

"We need you to raid your mom's vervain supply. Enough to keep Stefan down for a while." Elena told him and ignored Malina's sigh.

"Not going to happen." Malina sang quietly and she looked up to see Damon watch her curiously.

"You can't do that to Stefan." Tyler replied with a stern voice and Malina couldn't hide the smile on her lips as her theory was proved right. Damon was still looking at her, but his gaze slowly moved to Tyler as he tried to figure out why the witch was smiling.

"Why not?" Caroline asked confusingly, not sure why her boyfriend was protesting. Hadn't he called Stefan a dick just earlier that day?

"Trust me, Tyler, it's in his best interest." Elena reasoned with a placating smile and Caroline quickly agreed with her friend.

"It's not in Klaus'." Tyler said with a small tilt of his head and everyone but Malina frowned at his words.

"And there it is." the witch said under her breath, raising her eyebrows at Damon, who seemed to be the only one listening to her commentary and noticing that something was wrong.

"No offense," Caroline said as she looked at Malina, who told her to continue with a small nod, "but Klaus is the bad guy, Tyler. And why are you acting like some freaky hybrid slave minion?"

"Uh, oh." Damon said as he stepped closer to the others, looking between Malina and Tyler with disbelief. Malina sent him an almost apologetic smile in confirmation, while the others just frowned at him.

"What?" Alaric asked impatiently, but didn't get an answer as Tyler spoke again while Damon continued moving forward.

"Klaus made me who I am, Caroline. I owe him everything."

"Oh, boy." Damon sighed as he sent Malina an irritated look to which she could only shrug.

"Okay, can we cool it on the commentary please? And what is going on with you two?" Caroline asked irritatingly and looked between Malina and Damon, whose silent conversation hadn't fully escaped her attention.

"What is going on?" Elena asked confusedly and Malina noticed how Damon picked up something from the table as he moved closer to Tyler. She sent him a warning look and then stepped behind the hybrid as he stepped back with raised hands in surrender.

"I'm just gonna go." Tyler said slowly and turned around to leave, only to come face to face with Malina.

"Tyler, are you going to tell Klaus that I helped with Stefan?" she asked with a pressing voice and if Damon didn't know better he would say that she was trying to compel him. "Because I would be happy if you did not."

"I guess I don't have to." Tyler shrugged and tried to move around the witch, who stepped in front of him again.

"Will you tell him about our plans for Stefan?" she inquired, knowing already what the answer would be.

"Yes, I owe it to Klaus." Tyler said with a stern voice as he looked down at her and Malina sighed before pressing two fingers against his forehead, making him fall to the floor unconsciously.

"That is what I thought you would say." Malina muttered and then looked up at the confused faces, who were staring back at her.

"What did you do that for?!" Caroline asked accusingly as she crouched by her boyfriend on the floor.

"He's been sired." Damon said with a loud voice as he looked down at Tyler's limp body with a frown.

"You are lot smarter than you look, Salvatore." Malina told him with an uncharacteristic smirk on her lips and he glanced at her quickly before turning his attention to his confused friends.

"What did you say?" Alaric asked and looked past Damon to the witch, who seemed to know what was going on as well.

"He's sired. He feels loyal to Klaus, because Klaus' blood created him." Damon explained calmly, clearly taking the news a lot better than Elena and Caroline, who seemed to be freaking out.

"Loyal how?" Elena asked as she eyed the hybrid warily.

"He'll seek acceptance from his master. Truly rare, but maybe not so much in hybrids." Damon continued before he turned to look at Malina curiously. "But how did you know?"

"I had my suspicions after Tyler pushed Stefan away from me this morning. Tyler said himself that Klaus hadn't told him anything about me before leaving and that helping me just felt right. Which of course seems strange because he should hate me. So I read a little something about sire bonds in my grimoires and it made sense. Having someone who is completely loyal to him is something Niklaus always wanted and now he has it." Malina told, but she could sense that Damon had more questions.

"But the thing with Stefan had nothing to do with Klaus." Damon replied and looked at her questioningly.

"I have a special bond with Niklaus created through blood magic and it seems that it have made the hybrids somewhat sired to me as well. Not anywhere near the extent they will be to Niklaus, but apparently they will strive to please me and protect me if necessary." Malina said, revealing what she had researched in the library.

It had mostly been a coincidence that she found the gang plotting against Stefan. After leaving Caroline, she had spent a couple of hours in the library, studying her grimoires and looking for the history books Alaric had told her about. She was on her way to the bonfire through the school, when she had heard the familiar voices coming from the classroom and had decided to join.

"So that's why Tyler agreed not to tell Klaus of your involvement. Because you'd be 'happy if he didn't'." Damon pointed out and Malina nodded once before looking down at Tyler and Caroline.

"So," Caroline said after a moment of silence and they all looked down at her, "how do I fix him?"

"Get a new boyfriend." Damon told her with a smirk that made Malina frown. Caroline looked at Damon as a small protesting sound escaped her and then at Malina, who just looked at her helplessly. As far as Malina knew, she didn't have a better solution.

* * *

><p><strong><em>Malina's P.O.V.<em>**

"Are you cold?" a voice asked from beside me and I turned my head to see Alaric remove his jacket and place it over my shoulders. A visible shiver had run through my body just seconds before, but it wasn't because of any cold. It was actually a warm evening and I hadn't seen anyone so far wearing a jacket.

"Actually, it didn't have anything to do with the temperature. It is more like a witch thing. Like something is happening that should not be. But thank you for your consideration." I told him with a tense smile as I focused my senses on figuring out why this cold, dead feeling seemed to flow through the air. I tried to shrug off the jacket, but Alaric just shook his head and leaned against the other side of tree that I was standing by.

"Keep it. I'm warm anyway so you're actually doing me a favour." Alaric replied with a smile and I turned my head to look at him with narrow eyes.

"Despite what Damon says, you do know that you do not have to flirt with me to keep me distracted, right?" I asked calmly, feeling bad about whatever Damon had lured the history teacher in to.

"I'm not- I'm definitely not flirting." Alaric managed to say and I had to hide a laugh when I saw the startled look on his face.

"Then why are you being nice to me?" I inquired and I could see a small smile appear on Alaric's lips. I studied him closely as I waited for his answer, not sure what I was to think of the man.

"Maybe I'm trying not to be the villain in your story." he finally admitted and a wide smile spread on my lips.

"So you actually listened to my words?" I asked disbelievingly. Our earlier conversation had been interesting, but I wasn't sure he actually understood what I was trying to say.

"I didn't really get how you could be eighteen and talk like that. Though, you still sound as if you are more than twenty-two years old." Alaric told me curiously and I could see the question in his eyes.

"Where I come from we were forced to grow up quickly. We didn't have the luxury of being teenagers and attending bonfires like this. I married when I was eighteen. I might sound naïve when I say that I believe that there is still some humanity left in Niklaus. But I have already learnt the hard lessons in life. I have met people who were beyond any redemption and Niklaus is not one of them." I narrated with a low voice and I noticed how Alaric stood up straight as I relayed some of my story to him. I didn't know why I did it, but I felt like I owed him for trusting me.

"You're married?" Alaric asked incredulously and I could almost see the hundreds of explanations that went through his head as he tried to reason why someone would marry in such a young age.

"I was. He is dead now." I answered solemnly as I watched a group of teenagers sit around a fire. Further away I could see Rebekah sitting alone and I sighed silently when I saw Damon approach her. It felt wrong to let Damon use her insecurities like that, but they had no chance of getting Stefan away with Rebekah watching over him.

"I'm sorry." Alaric said with a sympathetic voice and I couldn't help but feel that he had been through something similar. I didn't really feel sorry about the loss of my husband, but I nodded anyway.

"You talked about something happening that shouldn't be?" Alaric questioned after a moment of silence and I closed my eyes for a moment, feeling how my senses tingled with energy.

"Something dark is coming. I always have this gut feeling that tells me when something bad is going to happen. And I can feel it now. Like someone is using dark magic, but I do not know who or how." I explained and another shiver went through me, making me hug the jacket closer around me.

"You can feel that? How strong are you?" Alaric asked curiously and I took a moment to contemplate my answer.

"I am not entirely sure." was all I said and Alaric just nodded, seemingly satisfied with my answer.

"Here in Mystic Falls you're probably gonna have that gut feeling all the time." Alaric told me after a small pause and I could hear the bitterness in his voice.

"It is not exactly like that. I mostly feel the big things only. Like when something is going to change irrevocably or when a powerful force grows nearer." I explained and exhaled slowly as I thought about the last time that had happened. It was safe to say that life had changed irrevocably after that.

"Something wicked this way comes." Alaric muttered with a low voice and I had a feeling that he was quoting someone again. His eyes met mine as I stared at him questioningly and a teasing smile spread on his lips. "From a play by Shakespeare. Said by a witch actually."

"Please do continue having fun on my account." I retorted with a smile and he chuckled lightly at my attempt to seem offended. Our banter was interrupted by Alaric's phone and I watched a determined expression appear on his face as he read the text Elena had sent him.

"It's time." he told me with a voice that almost spelled doom and started walking out through the trees.

"What about your jacket?" I called after him and he turned around to look at me for a short moment.

"Give it to me later." he replied before running off towards the school. I stood for a moment in the shadow of the trees as I watched the party going on around me. As expected Stefan and Elena was nowhere to be seen and I moved towards Rebekah and Damon, who was eating some kind of white substance off a stick. It looked rather disgusting.

I couldn't hear what they were saying but I could sense Rebekah's sudden suspicion and I watched as they both stood up, Rebekah moving closer before she staked Damon through the stomach with stick she had been sitting with. Rebekah was gone before I could call after her so instead I walked over to Damon, who was groaning in pain.

Damon eyed me irritatingly and I saw him recognize the jacket that hung on my shoulders. I watched him for a moment with my arms crossed in front of me before I walked closer and pulled the stick from his stomach.

"Here I thought you weren't going to help me." Damon groaned and held a hand against his wound as it healed. I rolled my eyes and threw the bloodied stick into the fire before looking back at the vampire.

"I do not like seeing people in pain. I am not sadistic like some of you." I told him with a glare, but he just chuckled at me.

"Then why were you smiling just a moment ago?" he asked teasingly and I felt myself blush as I realised that I had indeed smiled when I saw him sitting with the stick through him.

"Maybe because you deserve it. I believe it is something called karma." I shrugged and crossed my arms in front of me again, letting my eyes glide through the trees in search of Rebekah. She was after all my ride home unless I wanted to drive with Damon, which I didn't. "Do you know where Rebekah went?"

"Sure, she told me right before stabbing me." Damon informed me sarcastically and I sighed at his inability to just be sincere.

"I will find her myself then. Alaric and Elena should have taken care of Stefan by now, by the way. Goodnight, Mr. Salvatore." I nodded at him before turning on my heels and walking away.

I couldn't help but look for Caroline as I walked back towards the school, but I knew that she was probably still with Tyler at his house. I wondered briefly where Bonnie was as well, but was pulled from my thoughts when another shiver ran through me.

I took a quick spin around myself in an attempt to find whatever that was causing the dark energy that pulsated around me, but I found nothing or no one. I absentmindedly grabbed my necklace as I moved towards the school parking lot, hoping in vain that Rebekah would be waiting for me there.

As I came closer to the school, I saw a silver car parked and stopped for a moment when I saw Elena and Alaric, with Stefan over his shoulder, walk towards it. I started walking again when they unlocked the car and put Stefan in the back before Elena got into the car as well.

It wasn't until another shiver ran through me that I noticed the young girl, who standing behind the car and watching them. I noticed how she looked to the ground and then at the cigarette in her hand. She blew at the lit end once and I felt myself move faster as I saw her drop the cigarette to the ground.

"ALARIC!" I screamed before I was even sure what was happening and he looked at me in shock before the fire trail caught his attention. I started running towards the car as Alaric shouted for Elena to get out before the car caught fire.

As the ties lit up in flames, I looked to the girl who had dropped the cigarette, only to find her gone. Alaric had run to the other side of the car in an attempt to get Elena out, but the door wouldn't open. It wasn't until I saw the girl inside the car that I realised that she was a ghost. And not a very nice one.

I stopped a few meters from the car and raised my hand, focusing on a way to put out the flames but nothing seemed to work. Alaric was trying to break the car window in Elena's side, but that didn't work either. I could feel how a darker force was working against me and my nose began to bleed as I managed to break away the backdoor, giving Stefan and Elena a chance to escape.

Elena seemed to be struggling within the car and I could see through the smoke how the ghost was pulling her back into the seat as Elena tried to get out. When the girl suddenly disappeared, it felt like a wall shattered and I curled my hand into a fist, easily dimming the fire so Stefan and Elena had enough time to get out.

"Get away from there now!" I yelled when Alaric finally pulled both Elena and Stefan out of there. My initial struggle against whatever dark force the ghost had with her, had tired me significantly and I wouldn't be able to put out the fire completely without losing consciousness.

The moment they were far enough away, I uncurled my fist and the car exploded in flames. I felt my head hit the pavement as I was pushed back by a heat wave and my lungs constricted painfully as smoke seemed to fill them. I groaned in pain as someone lifted me from the ground and it only took me a couple of seconds to realize that the person was definitely vampire.

At some point I was sure I heard Damon's voice and I felt myself being placed in a car seat, while someone examined the back of my head, seemingly finding no injuries. There were mentions of a concussion and the sounds of Damon threatening to throw me out if I puked. My eyes were closed during the whole thing as I felt too exhausted to open them and when I woke up in my bed the next morning I couldn't decide if I had fallen asleep or passed out.

* * *

><p>I felt dizzy as I rose from the bed and made my way to the ensuite bathroom. I mindlessly stripped off my clothes from the night before, doing my best not to look in the mirror as I was sure the sight would shock me. I almost felt like I was in a trance as I showered, dried myself off and put on some new clothes.<p>

There was a strange energy in the air that reminded me of the tingly feeling I had felt the night before. As I shook my head at the thought, a sharp pain shot through my head and I groaned as I remembered its collision with the pavement.

Carefully, I opened my bedroom door and peaked out into the hallway, hoping that I wouldn't run into Stefan. I didn't know if they had actually managed to tie him down after everything that had happened, but I didn't want to risk it.

I all but tiptoed into the kitchen, where I managed to find some aspirin – probably there because of Elena – for my headache and I poured myself a glass of water to help me swallow them. I frowned when I suddenly heard someone groan painfully in the living room and I slowly moved towards the sound, ready to take on whoever was in there.

I gasped in surprise when I saw an unknown man stand by the closed curtains with a serious expression on his face. He seemed shocked by the fact that I could see him and it took me a moment to realise that he was a ghost. How did I suddenly get the ability to see ghosts?

The sound of shattering glass brought me out of my reverie and it wasn't until I looked down at my feet that I realised that I had been the one to drop my glass of water. And it wasn't until I looked back up at Damon that I remembered why.


	7. Chapter 6 - Part one

"Good morning." Damon greeted through his teeth as he noticed me standing in the room, looking at him with a horrified expression on my face.

The vampire was tied to a chair with multiple chains and if the bloodied shirt and fire poker on the floor was any indication, it looked like he had been stabbed too. Someone had decided to remove it though, but still leaving him stuck in the chair.

"What happened to you?" I asked incredulously as I slowly stepped forward, eyeing the ghost warily to see if he would stop me from helping Damon. The man was still staring at me, surprised that I could see him when Damon clearly couldn't.

"My brother happened to me." Damon replied with a groan as he fought against the chains that were holding him down.

I frowned at his accusation as the ghost by the curtains didn't seem completely innocent. When I grabbed one of the chains around Damon and the ghost made no move, I hurriedly started removing it from around him. I was halfway through – I had to use magic to open some of the locks – when the curtains flung open and bathed both of us in sunlight.

I jumped back in shock when Damon screamed in pain and I looked to his hand to find that his ring was missing. With a quick flick of my wrist I closed the curtains once more and the ghost now seemed irritated by my interference.

"What did you do that for?" Damon sneered at me, wincing as his skin slowly healed from the burn and I quickly found his ring on the floor, putting it back on his finger.

"I didn't, you idiot!" I retorted as I went back to removing the chains. The way he frowned told me that he was finally starting to realise that maybe it wasn't his brother who was behind this.

"There is a young man here, over by the curtains. He doesn't seem too fond of you. He is quite handsome actually." I told Damon as I looked between the chains and the ghost. I rolled my eyes as a smirk spread on the ghost's lips when I complimented his looks. Even the dead could be vain, it seemed.

"You're saying there's ghost in this room who did this to me?" Damon asked disbelievingly and I gave him a small nod as I stepped back, finally removing the last chain from his wrist. "Who?"

"How should I know? He must be supernatural since I am capable of seeing him. Even though, I don't really know how I can see him. I would say that he was a werewolf?" I tried as I studied the ghost, who was staring back at me and I could see by the look on his face that I was right.

"Mason Lockwood." Damon all but whined and I watched how Mason's expression turned stony as he looked back at Damon.

"Did you say Lockwood? As in Tyler Lockwood?" I asked with wide eyes and Damon just nodded, not looking apologetic in any way.

"Mason was Tyler's uncle." Damon told me as he looked around the room as if he was trying to find the ghost.

"Does Tyler know that you killed him?"

"Who cares?" Damon exclaimed before he grabbed his keys from a nearby table and strode out of the room. I sent Mason one last worried look before I ran after the vampire, hopping into his car before he took off.

"How do you even have friends?" I asked indignantly and glared at him, which only made him roll his eyes.

"I don't, I just have not-enemies. And should you really be asking that, witch-who-is-best-friends-with-the-big-bad-hybrid?" Damon retorted mockingly as he started the car and drove away, apparently not caring about the mess he left behind. I wondered for a moment where Rebekah was and what she would think when she came back.

"Where are we going?" I asked after a few minutes of silence, realising that we were driving towards mid-town. I wasn't sure why I had decided to follow Damon into his car, but given his mood it seemed like the right thing to do. Maybe I could stop him from killing more of Tyler's family members.

"_I_ am going to see witchy number two and get her to fix whatever she has fucked up. I have no idea why _you_ are here." Damon said, eyeing me with an annoyed look on his face.

"You think Bonnie has something to do with this?" I asked curiously as I tried to put the pieces together in my head. Something was definitely going on with the Other Side and it was possible it had something to do with revival of Jeremy Gilbert. Or maybe something more sinister.

"Unless you know something I don't." Damon stated, but there was a suspicious tone in his voice that made it sound like a question. He lifted an eyebrow at me as he looked between me and the road, but I didn't meet his gaze.

"I have this feeling in my gut that something has gone horribly wrong on the Other Side. Like someone is pushing against the barrier to our world and it has caused rifts. Rifts that allow people like Mason Lockwood and the girl from yesterday to actually anchor themselves to our plane." I told him with a speculative voice and I could feel him staring at me disbelievingly.

I wasn't sure if I was even half right, but it was the only thing I could come up with. It had to be some powerful witch on the Other Side, who was doing this and I could only think of one. That sent another shiver through my body and Damon frowned at me.

"What the hell is the Other Side?" he then asked and I raised an eyebrow in surprise as I met his confused gaze. They were bringing people back from the dead and talking to ghosts as if it was nothing and yet they had no idea where they those ghosts came from.

"When a supernatural creature like you and I die, they go to the Other Side. That is where the ghosts are coming from. Or so my grimoires say." I explained slowly, being purposely patronizing and Damon sent me another annoyed look.

"The ghost who tried to barbecue Elena was Vicki Donovan." Damon informed me casually after short minute of silence and my jaw dropped as I recognized the last name. "And can you really tell all that about 'the Other Side' from a _gut_ feeling? Are you sure it isn't just some undercooked chicken?"

"Is Matthew's surname not 'Donovan'?" I asked with narrowed eyes, ignoring Damon's attempt to be funny. My eyebrows lifted in surprise when I noticed a small glimpse of shame in his eyes, but he quickly covered it up with a smirk.

"She was Matt's little sister." Damon said with casual hand gesture, but he glanced at me warily.

"What did you do?"

"Why is it that people always blame me?" he exclaimed, sounding genuinely offended, but a sigh escaped him as I continued to glare at him.

"I was trying to get to Stefan so I turned her into a vampire. She might have been enjoying it a little too much and Stefan had to kill her before she ate Elena and Jeremy." Damon then explained and I felt myself frown in confusion.

"And everyone has just forgiven you for all of this?" I wondered out loud and all Damon did was shrug. It seemed like all Damon did was to cause trouble and be a pain in the ass, and yet they all forgave him. Elena even seemed slightly enamoured with him. And still they seemed to think that my friendship with Niklaus was ludicrous.

He stayed silent as we drove through the town and I watched several people run around at the town square, decorating it with lanterns as the mayor stood on a stage talking to a small crowd of people. I was about to ask what the occasion was as we suddenly pulled up and Damon stopped the car.

"Malina?" I heard a voice ask and I looked to my left to see Caroline and Bonnie stare at me and Damon. I didn't have a chance to answer before Damon started talking.

"Greetings. Blondie, Witchy." Damon started and I rolled my eyes at the silly nicknames. Caroline looked irritated as well as she crossed her arms and moved closer with Bonnie.

"I think you got your voodoo wires all crossed when you got rid of Vicki Donovan." he continued and my head perked up in surprise at this new information. That meant that it was probably Bonnie, who made Vicki disappear from within the car the night before.

"What do you mean? Why?" Bonnie quickly asked and a worried expression settled on her face.

"Because according to Wicky here next to me, I just got spit-roasted by Mason Lockwood's ghost." Damon replied as he nodded towards me and I scoffed at my given name.

"What?" Bonnie exclaimed and I could see genuine distress in her eyes now. Maybe I had been a little too hard on her regarding the use of dark magic as she clearly knew that there were consequences for such things and she probably thought she was paying them now.

"Why would you think that?" Caroline asked as she looked between me and Damon, clearly wondering what I was doing in his company. Honestly, I was beginning to wonder myself.

"Because Malina described him to me." Damon said and I could feel Bonnie's eyes immediately switch to me. Damon was about to continue when I interrupted.

"I described him as handsome. Apparently, Damon agrees." I told the girls with a smirk on my lips, making Caroline giggle and Damon roll his eyes.

"_And_ maybe because he chained me to a chair and shoved a hot poker through my chest." Damon continued with a small shrug and I was confused to why that would explain anything. "Let's just say I'm having déjà-vu."

"I thought that you said that ghosts couldn't physically interact with people." Caroline said as she looked at Bonnie with a frown and the Bennett witch quickly shook her head.

"They can't!"

"Yeah, well, I don't have time for vengeful Lockwood. When I kill someone, they're supposed to stay dead." Damon told with a stern voice as he glared at Bonnie. "Whatever you screwed up; fix it."

As I could see he was about to drive off, I quickly unbuckled my seat belt and moved to open the door. The next moment I was pulled back into the seat by Damon, who had a hand around my arm and I turned my head to glare at him.

"Arh, ah. You stay with me if Lockwood decides to pay me another surprise visit." Damon said with a dangerous smirk on his lips and I could hear Caroline hiss from beside Bonnie.

"Let go of me, Salvatore." I told him with a calm but threatening voice as I placed my right hand on the front of the car. He just widened his smile and pushed down on the speeder, frowning when nothing happened. I smiled back at him when he quickly looked at me and then at my right hand.

"What did you do to my car?" he growled at me, but I didn't answer as I eyed his hand on my left arm. I could almost see smoke coming from under his hand as my skin began burning and he tore his hand away with a small yelp. Before he could grab me again, I exited the car and a triumphant grin was on my face as I moved to stand beside Caroline, who was trying hard not to laugh.

"You reap what you sow, Mr. Salvatore. I am sure that you can handle Mason Lockwood on your own." I called after him just before he sped away, wheels squealing as he drove down the road.

"That was _awesome_!" Caroline exclaimed as she jumped a couple of times on the spot and clapped her hands, making me smile modestly. I was used to only Emma seeing me do magic and she never seemed quite as excited as Caroline. Which reminded me that I should give her a call.

"How did you do that?" Bonnie asked as she eyed me curiously and I sent her a smile, happy that she was finally talking to me again.

"The concept is quite easy. You take the energy from one thing and direct it into your body or through it. By taking the energy from the engine, I could direct the heat through my body; simultaneously stopping the car and burning Damon. It can be a bit tricky though, as I have to make sure that I do not burn myself as well." I told the other witch and even though she tried to hide it, I could see that she was impressed.

"You should totally teach that to Bonnie!" Caroline said as she smiled excitingly and looked to her friend, whose eyes had become wide.

"Caroline!" Bonnie hissed under her breath and it was clear that she was a little more opposed to learning anything from me.

"No but seriously, Bonnie. Just because you learn a few tricks from her, doesn't mean you're going over to the dark side. You're just… exploiting your opportunities." Caroline reasoned and I couldn't help but smile at her enthusiasm even though she did just call me 'the dark side'.

"Someday, maybe. But we have to get this ghost situation under control first." Bonnie said and expression turned from hesitant to determined. "Are you completely sure it was Mason Lockwood that went after Damon? Not a young girl with brown hair?"

"Damon told me about Vicky Donovan and it was not her that I saw. The ghost was definitely male and I got that werewolf vibe from him." I told her hastily, creating an even more frustrated look on her face. My eyes shifted momentarily to Caroline, who seemed to be staring past me and I turned my head to find Matt staring at us from a few meters away.

"Does he know about all of this?" I asked warily as the pained expression on his face showed that he had heard some of our conversation.

"He helped sent his sister away yesterday." Caroline explained; her voice filled with empathy for her friend. "It's so sad."

"Yeah." Bonnie sighed as she looked after Matt, who was now walking away. My eyes turned to Caroline once again and she was now looking at Bonnie hesitantly, making me wonder what she was dying to say.

"So much strength as a man." she finally said with a leading voice and I frowned in confusion, while Bonnie seemed to understand what she was getting at.

"We got a ghost problem to deal with, Caroline. Save the Jeremy lecture for later." Bonnie told her friend irritatingly. There was slightly guilty look in Caroline's eyes and I suddenly felt like I was intruding.

"So, if it wasn't Vicky that means something has gone really, really wrong." Bonnie continued with a serious voice, apparently not allowing her personal problems to interfere with the task at hand. She then turned to me with an almost suspicious look in her eyes and I waited patiently for her to speak again.

"How are you seeing the ghosts? Is it like with Jeremy and Matt or is it your powers?" she asked with wariness in her voice and I could feel Caroline's curious gaze on me as well.

"I actually have little idea. I have never experienced anything like it before." I told her honestly and almost felt slightly guilty for my answer when Bonnie sighed tiredly. "But something _is_ happening on the Other Side. That I can feel. My body is tingling with energy and it is not the good kind."

"You're tingling?" Bonnie asked incredulously with raised eyebrows and I swallowed an irritated sigh.

"Can you not feel it? Like a feeling of dread in your gut?" I inquired as I placed my hand on my abdomen, holding back a small shiver.

"I always have a feeling of dread inside me. Maybe I've just gotten used to it." Bonnie said with a shrug, but I could hear the bitterness in her voice. "So what do we do?"

"We need to find a way to close the rifts in the veil that the ghosts are escaping through." I explained without really knowing how to do exactly that.

"The veil?" Caroline asked curiously as she looked to Bonnie for answer, who seemed just as confused.

"The veil between our world and theirs. The thing that normally keeps us separate. The spell Bonnie did on Jeremy to bring him back made it unstable and now someone from the Other Side is using that to send ghosts through to our plane." I told them carefully, making them understand only to bring out new questions in their eyes.

"Who's doing that?" Caroline asked once more as Bonnie quietly contemplated my words and I found myself debating how much to tell them.

"A very powerful witch, I think." was all I said and Caroline nodded slowly, probably still confused by what was happening.

"How do we 'repair' the veil?" Bonnie finally spoke up and I couldn't help but sent her a sheepish smile.

"I don't know." I sighed while shifting my eyes between the girls and Caroline looked at me reassuringly.

"So we just have to check your grimoires." Caroline said with forced enthusiasm and smiled at both of us.

"I guess so." Bonnie muttered as she reached down to pick up her bag from the ground. As she did, everything fell out of the open bag and we both reached for her grimoires, unable to catch it before it hit the ground.

"Ok, did your grimoire just…" Caroline trailed off as we watched the wind flip through the book to land on a particular page. I shared a quick look with Bonnie, giving her a confused shrug before she reached down to pick up the book.

"Please tell me that's a recipe for witch cookies." Caroline said with an almost pleading voice and I would have smiled if I wasn't so focused on what actually stood on the open page.

"It's a manifestation spell. It's used to reveal veiled matter." Bonnie told us, looking up at me questioningly. I knew what she was asking but I wasn't sure it was such a good idea.

"Veiled matter as in…" Caroline started while she looked between Bonnie and me, trying to get our attention.

"Ghosts." I finished gloomily and shared a confused look with Caroline, when the other witch suddenly started walking away with a determined expression on her face.

"Hey Bon, where are you going?" Caroline called after her as we slowly followed her towards some car that turned out to be Caroline's.

"We're going to cast this spell and we need a private place to do it. I know where." Bonnie explained as she waited by the car for Caroline to unlock it. The car came to life with a small beeping sound as the lights blinked and Bonnie was in the front seat before we had even reached the car.

"I am not sure if this is such a wise idea." I told Bonnie from the backseat as we made our way out of mid-town with Caroline behind the wheel.

"Well, it's our only idea and someone clearly wants us to use it." Bonnie retorted, seemingly irritated with my objections. A sigh escaped me and I shortly met Caroline's eyes in the rear view mirror as she smiled at me apologetically.

"Someone we do not know who is. As far as I could tell there was no one around when 'the wind' turned to that page. If you think we must do this spell, then we will. Just know that the foothold the ghosts have in our world now, will grow stronger after you have cast it." I told her with an insistent voice and it finally seemed like my words made an impact as Bonnie nodded solemnly.

"I wonder what Elena is doing." Caroline said after a short moment of silence. The young vampire clearly wasn't big on awkward pauses and silence.

"Probably running around after Stefan." Bonnie replied and once again there was bitterness in her voice.

"She will not help us with this?" I asked slightly dumbfounded by the doppelgänger's lack of presence.

"She got her own problems to worry about." Caroline said with a small shake of her head and I frowned at her excusing tone. Wasn't all of this not more important than 'fixing' Stefan? He would never hurt Elena after all.

"So does the two of you." I stated calmly and I watched Bonnie tense while Caroline suddenly became very busy with keeping her eyes on the road. "Bonnie, your boyfriend is seeing ghosts and while I do not what sort of relationship problems that might cause, it doesn't seem like it is few."

"Try ghost ex-girlfriend." Caroline muttered into the air, receiving a light smack on the arm and a warning glare from Bonnie.

"And Caroline, your boyfriend is sired to an evil Original hybrid. You have your own personal problems as well. Is Elena the only allowed to resolve hers?" I continued, pretending not to hear Caroline's words about Bonnie's relationship problems.

Neither of the girls said anything as they shared a long look between them and I watched Caroline's shoulder slump as she sighed. Apparently I had hit a sore spot and none of them seemed comfortable with commenting.

"Did you really just call your own friend evil?" Caroline then asked with a hint of amusement in her voice.

"I find no need to excuse Niklaus' behaviour. No one but himself should do that. I did try once but it did not do any good for anyone. I am sure you feel the same with Damon." I explained casually and I watched Bonnie raise her eyebrows in surprise.

"We're so not friends with Damon." Caroline almost laughed and my eyes narrowed at the slight tremble her voice held. "And he certainly never apologizes for anything. Elena usually does that for him."

I watched with confusion as Bonnie soothingly stroked Caroline's arm and the blonde inhaled sharply before forcing a smile onto her face.

"So are we there yet?" Caroline asked Bonnie and the witch quickly told her to turn right down a road that led into the forest around us. We drove down the gravel road in silence and after five minutes we had reached an old house that looked all but ready to collapse.

"So this is where you brought Jeremy back to life?" Caroline asked nervously as we entered the house and walked down a staircase to a lower floor. There was an empty feeling about the place. As if something was missing and the air around us felt almost dead.

"I know it's creepy, but it was the only place I could think of." Bonnie said apologetically as she moved to the middle of the room and placed herself on the floor. Caroline had stopped on the threshold and still seemed slightly worried about something.

"There's no chance it's haunted by the hundred dead witches who were horrifically burned to death in this very spot, is there?" Caroline said with a small nervous laugh and I felt my eyes widen in shock.

"They're not here anymore. They made it clear they were never coming back." Bonnie reassured her friends and I finally realized what was missing from the house.

The lost energy from a hundred death witches had left a vacuum behind that nature didn't seem able to compensate for. I understood Caroline's apprehension. If the hundred witches still had been here, they probably wouldn't be satisfied with a vampire stepping into their 'home'.

"Right." Caroline said as she stepped into the room to stand next to me. "Pinky swear?"

"What is a pinky swear?" I asked silently when Bonnie just rolled her eyes and went back to preparing to cast the spell.

"You have never done a pinky swear?" Caroline asked in surprise, happy for the distraction I provided her. An almost excited smile grazed her lips as I shook my head. "It's a promise you make. But instead of shaking hands or something even more disgusting, you pinky swear."

"So you would not believe me if I just promised you with words?" I asked incredulously, once again baffled by the social norms that ruled this society.

"Well, it's mostly just for fun you do it. Let me show you." Caroline explained and reached out for my hand. She then folded down my fingers except for my little finger and hooked her own around it. "And now we swear something."

"I swear that there are no dead witches in this house and I mean you no harm whatsoever." I said while I met her stare and I could see her smile widen slowly.

"I swear to stop ignoring you – sorry again about that – and not to hurt you either." Caroline promised and I smiled as she momentarily strengthened the hold on my little finger.

"Caroline, I need you to light the candles." Bonnie called out with ill-hidden irritation in her voice, breaking our small moment.

"Sure." Caroline quickly answered, releasing my hand to find a lighter.

"Allow me." I told her with a smile and closed my eyes to focus. The next moment the room was covered in a soft light and I turned to look at Bonnie, who had already placed her hands over her grimoire with closed eyes.

"Do you need my help?" I asked carefully, but no answer came as Bonnie started chanting instead. I frowned at her unwillingness to let me help and then looked at Caroline, who just shrugged.

A few moments later, a subtle wind blew into the room, threatening to blow out the candles and I felt Caroline move closer to me as it picked up velocity. Our hair blew in the wind as we both watched Bonnie intently and Caroline took another step closer.

"I don't like this." Caroline called out nervously, hoping to get her friend's attention, but the Bennett witch was completely focused on the spell.

"It will be over in a few moments." I told her reassuringly and then turned to look at Bonnie once more, gasping when I saw the woman who sat in front of her, holding Bonnie's hands.

"Who's that?" I whispered loudly without taking my eyes of the elderly woman.

"Who?" Caroline replied confusedly as her eyes quickly searched the room. The next moment the spell ended and both Caroline and Bonnie gasped.

"That." I clarified, realizing that the woman was a ghost who had now manifested because of the spell.

"That's Bonnie's-" Caroline started as she looked at the woman with wide eyes.

"Gramps." Bonnie finished with tear filling her eyes and Caroline moved to stand beside the pair on the floor, while I stayed in my spot.

"I can't believe you're here." Bonnie cried as she held her grandmother's hands and I felt own throat constrict painfully. It wasn't until then that I realized my mother had yet to show herself to me and the thought of her moving on both made me happy and sad.

"Now, stop your crying we don't have time for tears." the woman said after a long moment of silence and I took a deep breath myself to control my feelings. She then turned her head to look at Caroline with a smile, still not noticing me. "Nice to see you again, Caroline."

"Hi, Miss Sheila." the blonde replied with an unbelieving laugh as she smiled at the old lady.

"A fine mess you've made, honey." Sheila said as she turned her attention back to her granddaughter, who was still trying to stop her tears from falling. "The witches told you there'd be consequences to brining Jeremy back and you did it anyway."

"I didn't have a choice. I love him and I couldn't just let him go." Bonnie explained as the tears ran down her cheeks and I watched Sheila nod.

"I understand. But you cracked open the door to the Other Side. There's an old witch over here. She took advantage of it, she took advantage of you, honey. When you did that spell to send Vicky Donovan away, she wedged the door open wide. Giving a free pass to anybody with unfinished business." Sheila told Bonnie and I felt a shiver run through at the mention of the old witch. I wasn't sure why she was scaring me so much, but there was definitely something ominous about the whole situation.

"How do you know this?" Bonnie asked confusedly and for a naïve moment I thought Sheila would mention my mother.

"Witches talk. Even on the Other Side. Who do you think makes all the rules?" Sheila replied with amusement hidden in her voice.

"What does the witch want?" Bonnie inquired and I felt my body tense, ready to answer when Sheila did it for me.

"That's Original vampire business, not yours. I don't want you getting in the middle of it." Sheila told her granddaughter and I felt Caroline's eyes shift to me. "I'm here because you upset the balance of nature and it's your duty to set it right. You need to close that door."

"How?" the younger Bennett witch asked eagerly and I noticed how the tears had stopped spilling from her eyes.

"The witch has a talisman on this side that she draws power from. We need to destroy it." Sheila informed her and it only took me a moment to realise what she was taking about.

"Rebekah's necklace." I said without thinking and all three women quickly turned to look at me. I met the eyes of the dead witch and she didn't look surprise to see me standing behind her.

"You mean the necklace that Stefan gave to Elena?" Caroline asked and I looked at her momentarily as I nodded before turning my gaze back to Sheila. "Why?"

"It once belonged to the witch on the Other Side." was all I said and surprisingly Caroline took the hint not to ask further.

"Right. Original vampire business. Got it." the blonde nodded and then fished out her phone from her pocket. "I'll call Elena and ask where it is."

As Caroline stepped away to call her friend, silence spread among us and I took a step forward to introduce myself to Bonnie's grandmother, who had risen from the floor.

"Hello, I am-" I started as I held out my hand in greeting, but Sheila interrupted me as she took my hand in both of hers with a smile on her lips.

"I know who you are, sweetheart. It's an honour to meet you." she told me with a gentle voice and I couldn't help but blink in surprise. "Every witch on the Other Side knows about you. We have been waiting for you for some time. I'm sorry that I couldn't be there when you woke up."

"You know her?" Bonnie asked incredulously from behind her grandmother before I could even manage to form a word inside my head. Not that I knew what to say.

"We've never met in person, but I've been told her story so many times that I could tell in my sleep." Sheila informed Bonnie without looking at her and I had to blink in surprise once more.

"Why have I never heard that story?" Bonnie asked and she almost seemed offended by her grandmother's lack of sharing.

"Because it is a story that is told from mother to daughter, when they first discover their powers. It never seemed the right time for me to tell you and then it was too late." Sheila explained with a sorrowful voice as she let go if my hand and looked at her granddaughter.

"Tell me now." Bonnie demanded with an almost angry voice and she glared at me for a moment before turning her eyes back to Sheila.

"There is no time, honey." Sheila said apologetically and then looked at me. "But perhaps Malina will tell you herself, when there is."

"I will." I assured Bonnie, who seemed to calm down a little and Sheila smiled at me once more.

"So, Elena doesn't know where it is, but I texted Damon and he said it was in the Boarding House." Caroline said as she walked back over, glancing at the three of use warily. There was a sad look in her eyes as they landed on Bonnie, but the witch didn't seem to notice.

"Let's go then." Bonnie said determinedly and then looked at Sheila in question.

"I'll wait here for your return." she informed us and then nodded encouragingly. Bonnie and Caroline was first out of the room and as I was about to follow, Sheila called after me.

"Your mother is still on the Other Side, Malina. She is just a little busy at the moment." she told me reassuringly and I felt my eyes burn with tears as I nodded in understanding before following the others.

We had barely made it into the car before Bonnie turned in her seat to look at me with a glare still fixed in her eyes.

"So, are you going to tell me who you really are?" she asked rudely and I glared back at her until she cast her eyes down.

"Now is not the time, Bonnie. You do deserve to know, but I will not let you bully me into telling you." I told her with a stern voice and a scowl set on her face as she turned back around again.

"What's going on?" Caroline asked confusedly as she looked between the two of us and I sighed in irritation as Bonnie started explaining.

"Apparently my gramps already knew who Malina was because she had been told stories about her by her mother. She even said she knew them by heart." Bonnie told her friend and Caroline frowned at the witch's unfriendly tone till she suddenly realized what Bonnie was saying.

"Wait, your great-grandmother told stories about Malina? How is that even possible?" Caroline asked with wide eyes and I felt her stare through the rear view mirror.

"That's what I would like to know." Bonnie scoffed and I felt the heat rise to my cheeks in anger. "Were you even going to tell me if my gramps hadn't said anything?"

"Yes, Bonnie. But I needed you to trust me first, which has proven harder than I expected." I informed her coolly and she had the good sense to look at little ashamed of her audacity.

"Why couldn't you just tell me anyway?" Bonnie then asked and I felt my own irritation slowly dissipate.

"Because I don't think that you would believe me if I tried. Or perhaps you would think I had some ulterior motive for telling you." I explained calmly and Bonnie seemed to understand my reasoning as she sighed.

"Fine, but I expect an explanation as soon as this is over." Bonnie told me sternly and I managed to send her a small smile.

"And I will give you one."

"We're here!" Caroline called out a little too loudly as we parked in front of the Salvatore Boarding House and I couldn't help but smile at her mediating ways. We all got out of the car and entered the house, immediately looking for hiding places.

Bonnie gasped when she entered the living room and found the chair Damon had been tied to earlier with the chains and fire poker still lying around. I watched her try to hide a smile as I told her about the state I had found Damon in and we quickly moved on with our search.

"He said it would be in his bathroom." Caroline informed us as she quickly ran up the stairs, leaving us to follow.

"OH MY GOD!" Caroline suddenly yelped in shock and I shared a quick look with Bonnie before we both sprinted up the stairs.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: What's with all the cliffhangers you ask? I don't know. But I need to end the chapters somewhere. Otherwise they will just go on forever. But I promise to post the next one soon!**

**Tell me what you think about this one! How do you like Caroline and Malina?:) (I love them). **


	8. Chapter 6 - Part two

"Caroline! What happened?" Bonnie yelled as we ran into the room she was standing in with our hands raised, ready to curse the intruder into hell if necessary.

"Who are you?" Caroline asked the stranger threateningly, already baring her fangs and I felt my hand drop as I stared into a pair of familiar brown eyes.

"Mother?" I managed to stutter out and a smile spread on her lips, making me lunge forward and into her embrace.

"What?" I heard Caroline ask from behind me, but I didn't answer her as I instead tightened my arms around my mother, feeling the tears in my eyes threatening to spill.

"Hello, my love." my mother whispered into my ear and a sob shook my body before I was finally able to calm myself and pull away to look at her.

"You are here." I stated with a teary voice and leaned into her touch as her hand cupped my cheek, drying some of my tears away.

"You were thinking of me, my child." she informed me with an almost teasing voice and I couldn't help but smile through my tears. I had forgotten all about Caroline and Bonnie, who were probably staring at us with confused expression on their faces. "I have waited a long time for this moment."

"I thought you had moved on." I told her as wiped away the last of my tears and there was a proud look in her eyes as I took one last deep breath and finally regained my composure.

"I had to see my daughter one more time. I will admit that the years have been long and many, but it has been worth it to see you now. You have done well." Ayana told me with a gentle voice and I couldn't help but frown at her words.

"I have not. Niklaus will not listen to me and as of now he is out of reach." I informed her and couldn't keep the shame out of my voice. I looked to the floor in embarrassment, but my mother slowly reached out and lifted my gaze.

"You will succeed, my child. I am sure of it." she reassured me and all I could do was nod timidly.

"How did you…" I asked after a short pause but I was unable to finish my question. She had been dead for a thousand years and I felt my stomach churn at the thought.

"Of old age. I managed to hold on for half a century." Ayana informed me and I felt my jaw drop in astonishment. I had expected her to live perhaps a couple of decades more after I went to sleep, but should also have known better than to underestimate my mother. "I had to take care of you, my dear."

"You have made friends, I see." my mother continued as she looked past me to the girls and I turned towards them as well.

"I'm so sorry for yelling at you, ms. –" Caroline said as she seemingly shook herself out of the shock and stepped forward. Her voice trailed off as she realised she didn't know the name of my mother, but with a small smile on her lips she took another step forward and lifted her hand in greeting. "I'm Caroli-"

"Caroline Forbes and Bonnie Bennett." Ayana finished for her and all three of us looked at my mother in surprise. Had she been following me around all this time? Both Bonnie and Caroline then turned to stare at me, but all I could do was shrug.

"A pair of extraordinary young women, the two of you. I am pleased to meet you." my mother than said after a moment of confused silence and smiled at both girls.

"How do you know who we are?" Caroline asked curiously and I turned to look at my mother, unsure of what she would think about Caroline's direct approach.

"We see things over here on the Other Side, Miss Forbes." my mother told her with an almost secretive voice, but I didn't see Caroline's reaction as my eyes rested on Bonnie, who was watching my mother with both curiosity and suspicion.

"Because you're dead. I mean a ghost… who is dead. And on the Other Side from where you apparently can see us, but we can't see you. Is it just me or is that just the tiniest bit of creepy? I mean, I don't want some pervert standing in my bathroom while I shower and I definitely-" Caroline rambled off in a high-pitch voice and once again I looked for my mother's reaction. She usually didn't have a high tolerance for persons like Caroline… and Rebekah.

"Caroline." I called out, stopping her talking stream and she blushed as she noticed her own rambling. "Ghosts only come if you think about them. You have to have an emotional connection to them as well. So nobody will watch you shower."

"Oh… Great then!" Caroline chirped and I was surprised by the amused smile on my mother's lips.

"But we don't have an emotional connection with you, so that still don't answer the question." Bonnie spoke up as she moved further into room as well and I watched my mother study the Bennett witch intently.

"I am still at liberty to see you when you are in proximity to Malina. But you are also right, Miss Bennett. You see, Malina and I have a special bond created through magic, which allows me to move along her thoughts and connections as well as my own. She has that with both of you." Ayana explained carefully and I was just as surprised by the information as Bonnie and Caroline.

"The bond between us is also what enabled her to see the ghosts before your manifestation spell was cast and what makes her so sensitive to the shifting energies between this world and the Other Side. You are not going crazy, my child. Because of the rifts in the veil our connection has just become stronger. As soon as the three of you have repaired them, you will no longer be able to see ghosts." Ayana carried on, not giving the two other girls a chance to object any such connection to me.

I stared at her for a long moment, finally understanding what had suddenly caused me to have these new senses. I had always had a sense of premonition, but the way I had been able to feel the Other Side was new. I almost felt relieved that it would once again disappear. Sadly that meant my mother's disappearance as well.

"You said a bond created through magic. What sort of bond?" Bonnie inquired with her arms crossed in front of her and Ayana sent her another smile. Clearly, my mother was being a lot more patient with the Bennett witch than I was.

"As your grandmother told you; there is no time for that sort of explanations now. Malina will tell you everything in good time." my mother informed her patiently and Bonnie's eyes immediately softened at the mention of Sheila.

"You know my gramps?" she asked with a surprised voice and I noticed how her shoulders became less tense.

"Witches talk on the Other Side." Ayana told her, repeating Sheila's words from earlier. I didn't know if it was purposely, but I wouldn't put it past her. "Now, girls. Might I have a moment alone with my daughter?"

"Of course!" Caroline exclaimed immediately, dragging Bonnie out of the room before the girl could even open her mouth. I couldn't help but smile after her before I turned to look at my mother once more, surprised by the suddenly serious expression on her face.

"She is quite special that girl." Ayana said with a low voice and a small laugh escaped me at her words. Caroline Forbes definitely was special.

"She is. She reminds me of Rebekah in some way. Which makes it kind of amusing that Rebekah hates her. And I am sure that both of them would greatly disagree with me." I laughed quietly as I thought about the two blondes, not noticing the still very serious look in my mother's eyes.

"No, my dear. Caroline Forbes is _special_." she almost interrupted as she caught my hands with hers and stared into my eyes.

"I don't understand." I said hesitantly with no idea of what my mother was speaking about.

"After we did the spell, after you went to sleep, I started having visions." Ayana quickly explained and I frowned in confusion.

"Visions? But you never-" I asked incredulously, but was quickly cut off.

"I did when I was younger and one night they started coming back. I never saw whole pictures and most times I did not even understand what I was seeing, but I did see you. I saw all of you. And Caroline Forbes." my mother told me and for some reason I felt my heart beat more rapidly.

"You saw me here? A thousand years into the future? And who is all of us? Mother, you aren't making any sense." I replied with a voice that slowly grew higher in both volume and pitch.

"You were happy, but also heartbroken. There was so much chaos, my child. Chaos that is yet to come. And there was a ball. You were there. And so were Niklaus, Rebekah, Elijah, Finn and Kol. There also was a girl in a blue dress." Ayana relayed to me and my head was spinning with all of the information I had just been told.

I didn't know whether to believe her words or not. Visions were rarely very reliable and these were a thousand years old. And it didn't seem possible that this ball would ever take place. All but Rebekah and Niklaus were daggered and I didn't see any of that changing soon.

"Who was the girl? In the blue dress?" I asked after a long moment of silence and I was surprised by how patient my mother was. Of course, impatience was my flaw and not hers.

"Caroline Forbes." was all she said and I almost felt like shaking her.

"How does that make her special?!" I asked desperately and I felt my hands grip hers tighter. I wasn't sure why all of this made me so upset, but her words about impending chaos and heartbreak kept bouncing around in my head.

"Because she can help you find Niklaus' redemption. Teach him to love once more." my mother said with an insistent voice and I almost felt like laughing at how ridiculous that sounded.

"Caroline would never help Nik. And certainly never love him. Her boyfriend got turned into a hybrid because of him and he killed her best friend. Granted, Elena is alive but how could she ever forget such things?" I told my mother with a trembling laugh and I heard my voice take a higher pitch once more.

"Caroline would never have to forget, only forgive. And I know how impossible this all seems now, but one day you will see what I saw and you will understand. So will they." Ayana told me carefully and this time I couldn't get myself to laugh. Not that Niklaus and Caroline would ever make any sense as a couple, but my mother believed every word she was saying.

"There is one more thing." she then said as I sighed tiredly and I straightened my back once more.

"I don't think my head can take anymore, mother." I complained and inwardly rolled my eyes at how childish I sounded.

"This is important. The witch that is letting all the ghosts cross over from the Other Side-" Ayana began with an urgent voice and I ignored the berating look she sent me when I interrupted.

"Is Esther, I know. But as long as she is over there, there is nothing I can do." I told her dejectedly, frowning in confusion when my mother shook her head.

"I know, dear, but that is not what I am trying to tell you. Esther was killed not many days after you went to sleep, but instead of burying her; I conserved her body." she told me silently and I felt my eyes widen in shock.

"Who killed her?" I asked, fearing the answer as I already knew it.

"Her children believed it to be Mikael, but…" Ayana trailed off, seemingly unable to cause me any more pain by telling me herself.

"But it was really Niklaus, wasn't it?" I finished for her and I felt a lump in my throat grow.

"I am afraid so. The children buried her, but Esther knew what was coming and she made me promise to preserve her body after her death so that she one day could be reunited with her family. It seemed as if she had already forgiven Niklaus before he even had the thought himself, but a thousand years has passed and things have changed. Esther thinks of her children as abominations now and I fear what she will do." my mother told me and I could hear actual fear in her voice.

"Do you think she will try to return to her body?" I asked with wide eyes, suddenly sharing mother's fear and the look in her eyes told me everything I needed to know: she definitely would.

"Mikael is coming." I then told her, not wanting to hear Ayana's fears about Esther spoken. This information only seemed to make her more anxious though and I sighed in frustration.

"You must stay out of his sight, Malina. And if he finds you then convince him that you will not lift a finger against him. Mikael will go after Niklaus and if he knows of your connection; he will kill you. Keep your eyes and ears open, my child. Be safe." my mother told me with an insistent voice and all I could do was nod. I still wasn't sure what the story between Mikael and Niklaus was exactly, but it didn't seem the right time to ask.

"The necklace you are looking for is not here. It was taken." Ayana then said and I had to shake my head to follow her change of topic. "You must find the ghost Anna. She is hiding it from you."

"Are you leaving now?" I asked with a small voice after giving her a nod and I felt the tears return rapidly.

"I must, darling. We both have to move on." she told me with a sad smile on her face as I let her drag me into an embrace. "Use your head and remember that nature is on your side."

"I will." I replied with a small sob and I felt my body shake as my mother's arm pulled me tighter against her. "Goodbye."

"Goodnight, my love."

The room fell silent as my mother seemingly blinked out of existence and another sob trembled through my body. A minute or so passed as I tried to take back control over my emotions and calm myself down. I then wiped the tears off my face defiantly and left the room without looking back.

"You said boyfriend dramas. Plural." Bonnie was in the middle of saying as I walked into Damon's room and I immediately noticed the tense energy between the two of them, making me stay quiet in the background. "What is it, Caroline?"

"Elena caught Jeremy kissing… Anna." Caroline told her friend, clearly uncomfortable with being the one telling Bonnie, but all I could really focus on was the name of girl Jeremy had kissed. Coincidentally, that was also the name of the ghost who had the necklace.

"What?" Bonnie said with a small voice and the hurt tone brought me back to the conversation.

"I'm sorry." Caroline told her friend with a small shake of her head and I noticed Bonnie gulp visibly.

"He kissed her?" the Bennett witch asked and I could hear the tears in her voice, suddenly making me feel like I was eavesdropping.

"She's got a foothold now, so she probably thinks that she's here to stay, but we're gonna find that necklace. Okay? Okay." Caroline said in a determined voice as she stepped closer to her friend and lightly shook her. The only thing Bonnie seemed able to do was nodding and I took that as my cue to interrupt.

"The necklace is not here." I called out as I stepped fully into the room and the girls spun around in surprise. "A ghost named… named Anna has it."

"Are you kidding me?!" Caroline exclaimed loudly and I lifted my hands in an apologetic gesture, making her smile at me sheepishly. "How do you know this?"

"My mother told me." I informed them and took a deep breath to keep my voice steady.

"Oh. Where is she now?" Caroline then asked with a more gentle voice and I sent her a small smile.

"Gone. But it is for the best. We must all move on at some point." I told her as I tried my best to keep my eyes of Bonnie, who was shifting uncomfortably beside her friend. If Bonnie had been able to let Jeremy go then this wouldn't be happening. But Jeremy was barely seventeen years old and my mother had been dead for a millennium.

"I'm sorry. How did she…?" Caroline continued and I didn't know how to take her sudden interest so I just responded.

"Old age."

"Was it long ago or…?" she then asked and I almost smiled at her lack of subtlety.

"Yes." I replied with a pointed look and Caroline nodded in understanding. "Now, shall we find this necklace?"

"But if Anna has it…" Bonnie said with an almost trembling voice and I couldn't stop myself from sending her a sympathetic smile.

"Then we'll simply get it back." Caroline said decisively and I was impressed by how she suddenly seemed to take over as Bonnie retreated into herself. With a quick movement she had pulled out her phone, dialled a number and put it to her ear. "Hello Jeremy."

"No. Wait, why is there sirens?" Caroline replied, answering a question I couldn't hear.

"Tobias Fell is dead?!" she then exclaimed and I looked questioningly at Bonnie, who didn't seem to be even listening. "Freaking tomb vampires."

"Well, you're gonna help us with that." Caroline told Jeremy with a little more irritation in her voice than before. "Apparently, your little girlfriend has it."

"Anna, you dumbass." the blonde sighed frustratingly at the boy and I could almost hear his jumbled words as he tried to explain himself. "Save it, Jeremy."

"How we know? Malina's mother told us." Caroline told him as she calmed a hand through her curls. "Yes, Malina's mother. Now get that freaking necklace and meet us at the dead witches' house. Comprende? Good."

"Alright then. Let's go." the vampire then said with forced enthusiasm and I wondered how often Caroline did this; pretend that everything was okay for someone else's sake. She seemed to just push on as if she had no other choice.

A minute later we were all sitting in the car on our way back to the witch house. There was a pregnant silence between us as Caroline kept glancing worriedly at her friend, who was clenching and unclenching her hands in an attempt to hide her feelings.

The sun had set over the town, making the lanterns light up as we drove past the town's square and I frowned at the apparent chaos outside. Something was going on and it wasn't good. A shrill sound cut through the silence, making me jump slightly but no one seemed to notice as Bonnie found her phone in her pocket.

"It's Jeremy." she informed dryly and almost seemed ready to put away the phone without reading his text. "He got the necklace and will meet us at the house."

"Good." was all Caroline said before she suddenly had to step on the brake as a man walked out in front of the car. "What the hell?"

"What's going on up there?" Bonnie then asked as the man sent us an uninterested glance before moving up the road, where a car seemed to have crashed and was now smoking.

"That's Mrs. Lockwood's car." Caroline informed with hidden panic in her voice as she realised what was going on. "Bonnie. I'm gonna get out of the car."

"What?!" Bonnie exclaimed and I moved to the edge of my seat in to hear her more clearly.

"And you're gonna take the wheel and drive the hell away from here." Caroline continued, ignoring her friend's protest.

"No way, I'm not leaving you." Bonnie told her friend, but was quickly overruled by Caroline.

"Bonnie, you got your ghost boyfriend drama, Elena has hers. And right now the mother of mine is about to be ghost bait. So go and sent them all back to the Other Side. Okay?" Caroline said in a way that was impossible to argue with and Bonnie seemed to agree silently as Caroline exited the car.

"Bonnie, can you destroy the necklace on your own?" I quickly asked as Caroline slammed the door behind her and moved towards the ghosts that were about to attack Mrs. Lockwood. The witch looked at me for a long moment before giving me a nod and crawling to the driver's seat.

"Good. Then this is my stop as well. I will help Caroline, okay?" I told her hurriedly, watching Caroline as she approached the first vampire. When the man lunged at her, I didn't wait for Bonnie's answer as I instead jumped out of the car and walked towards the fight with a raised hand.

I barely noticed Bonnie driving off as I focused on throwing the vampire off Caroline. I could feel the dark energy convulsing around them and I imagined Esther was standing on the Other Side fighting back just as much as the ghost-vampires.

"Malina, what are you doing?!" Caroline yelled at me as she ran towards another vampire, who was getting to close to the car and I flicked my wrist to break the neck of one of the other vampires.

"Helping!" I called back without removing my eyes from an approaching vampire, whose dark red eyes shone at me. "I will help Mrs. Lockwood out of the car, while you distract them."

"Perhaps you shouldn't be yelling out your plan to everyone, little witch." the approaching vampire sneered at me and the momentary shift of his eyes told me that there was a vampire coming from behind me as well.

In one fluent movement I lifted both my hands as I spun forty-five degrees to face both of them and painful screams filled the air as one felt his heart being pulled magically from his chest, while the other's head was pierced with a thousand aneurisms. As the vampire with no heart fell to the ground, I turned to the other to focus my powers and I watched as blood began oozing from his nose and ears.

When the screaming became too much, I flicked my wrist once more and he dropped lifeless on the ground. I spun around myself once and held my arms out to regain balance as dizziness shortly overwhelmed me. Taking out two vampires was hard enough, but I was also fighting whatever dark energy Esther was providing these vampires. For a moment I almost felt offended by her willingness to let me die.

Without further thought, I stepped over the vampire with the broken neck and ran to the mayor's car with no further obstacles in my way. I momentarily felt a hand grab my shoulder as I was about to open the car door, but it was gone in a second and I spun around to see Caroline snapping the vampire's neck. I was surprised by the quick smile she gave me before she returned her attention to the hostile vampires.

"Mrs. Lockwood?" I asked the woman inside, when I finally managed to open the jammed door. She didn't look like she was hurt too badly, but she didn't respond either so I sent a small shock wave through her hand. Her reaction to the small amount of pain was instant and she opened her eyes with a whimper.

"Mrs. Lockwood?" I tried once more and her eyes widened as she noticed me standing outside her car. She immediately tried to shy away and panicked when she couldn't remove her seatbelt. "It's okay. I am not here to hurt you. I am Caroline's friend. Okay?"

The woman nodded after a short moment of contemplation and I saw as she noticed Caroline behind me, who by the sounds of it, was still fighting off a couple of vampires. With slow movements I reached over and clicked open her seatbelt, pushing her back gently when she tried to exit the car.

"You might be injured, Mrs. Lockwood. I can check if you will let me, but you have to trust me. Do you understand?" I told her carefully, seeking her approval as I saw the groggy look in her eyes. She nodded once and then winced as I placed my hands on her shoulders, close to her neck. "I promise not to hurt you."

Without waiting for anymore confirmation, I closed my eyes and squeezed a little tighter around her shoulders. I could feel her body becoming unresponsive, so I softened my grip again and let my thumbs stroke over her shirt soothingly. As she calmed down, I synchronized my breathing with hers and pushed my magic towards her, letting it search every bone and muscle of her body.

When I found that nothing was broken or badly injured, I pulled away and opened my eyes. The mayor looked at me with wide eyes as I stood up from the uncomfortable position, having to almost climb into the car, and I sent her a small smile.

"Nothing is broking, but I am certain that you have a concussion." I told her carefully, but it didn't seem as if she heard me and I turned to follow her gaze. I was surprised by the sneer that escaped me when I saw Caroline being strangled by the vampire we had almost ran over earlier and I stepped forward with a lifted hand, only to have the ghost disappear the next moment.

"Thank heavens." I exhaled as I slowly moved back and leaned against the mayor's wrecked car. Caroline took a spin around herself to make sure all the ghosts were gone and then looked at me with a wide smile on her lips. She flashed to the car just before the piercing sound of sirens filled the night and a police car and ambulance appeared around the corner.

"Are you okay, Mrs. Lockwood?" Caroline asked her mother-in-law timidly and the woman nodded with a grateful smile on her lips. The blonde then looked at me and I held back a laugh as her bright smile almost lit up the night. "And you?"

"I survived." I told her with a smile and I was surprised when Caroline just shook her head. "You were impressive against those vampires, Caroline."

"Me? Did you see yourself? I mean, of course you didn't, but you were awesome. And kinda scary. Maybe there is some truth to Damon's nickname for you. The Wicked Witch."

"If you call me that again, I will show you how wicked I truly am." I warned her jokingly before we both stepped aside to let the paramedics through to Mrs. Lockwood.

The next half hour was spent with questioning by a police officer, who apparently let us go easily as everyone from the Sheriff's Department knew who Caroline was, and the blonde then called Tyler to inform him of his mother's accident. Apparently, he wished to visit his mother at the hospital alone and Bonnie said she wasn't in need of company either.

"Do you need a ride home?" Caroline asked me as she returned from her calls and I couldn't help but frown at her question.

"I do, but wouldn't that involve having a car to ride in?" I replied with a small laugh and Caroline rolled her eyes at me, smiling as well.

"Bonnie parked my car at my house and I'll just get one of my mom's colleagues to drive us there." she explained with a light voice and it was nice to hear that the earlier seriousness and panic had disappeared from it.

Minutes later we were dropped off in front of Caroline's house and I followed her slowly as she unlocked her front door and entered her house. I couldn't help but watch everything with interest, seeing how different this was from the Salvatores' residence and I realised that this had to be what a normal American home looked like.

"Hey, are you hungry or something?" Caroline called from somewhere in the house and I could already hear her removing multiple things from the refrigerator. I smiled at the sight as the kitchen came into view and I saw the now food-covered kitchen desk.

"Now that you are so graciously offering, I suppose I am a little hungry." I replied as I looked at all the food, not knowing what half of it was. Emma had introduced me to some American food, but we had mostly just lived on take out.

"What do you want?" the blonde chirped as she found a blood bag for herself and began drinking through something that looked like a straw. "I have ice-cream, some peanut butter and jelly, leftover lasagne I can heat, mac and cheese or cup noodles."

"Whatever is the easiest." I told her with a smile matching the one she was giving me and her eyes glided over the food on the table as she chose from the pile.

"How about a peanut butter and jelly sandwich?" Caroline suggested and I tried to hide the confused expression on my face as I had no idea what that was.

"Why do you look like you have no idea what that is?" the blonde asked with a surprised voice, seeing through my acting that faulted because of how tired I was. "Oh my God! You don't! I'm so gonna make it for you now."

Five minutes later I was looking at something I felt very conflicted about putting into my mouth, especially after seeing the making of it. I looked hesitantly at Caroline, who was staring at me expectantly like I was some kind of experiment, and then took a small bite of it. It was not bad.

"How come you've _never_ heard of peanut butter and jelly?" Caroline asked me incredulously as she watched me eat, making me slightly uncomfortable and very self-conscious.

"You make it sound like I have committed a crime."

"So how old are you?" the blonde asked, ignoring my comment and I almost choked on the bite I had just taken.

"Twenty-two. Didn't I tell you that already?" I told her, my voice hoarse from the near-death experience I had just had.

"But how long have you been twenty-two?" Caroline asked even more insistently and I was about to answer, when a weird expression crossed her face. "Wait, did I just quote Twilight?"

"Twilight?" I inquired confusedly, almost spelling out the word as I said it.

"Seriously? You don't know that either?"

"I have absolutely no idea what that is." I stated truthfully and Caroline's eyes widened as she seemed to realise something.

"Oh my God, you're like that superhero guy. What's his name? Captain something… Captain America! Who you probably don't know either. But he's this soldier from World War ll, I think, who gets frozen in the ice and then wakes up in our time seventy years later! And he doesn't know anything about the modern world. Like you. Have you been in the ice for seventy years?" Caroline rambled off and I felt my jaw drop at her story. I didn't realise that she had stopped talking and I had to shake myself out of it as I finally noticed her stare.

"No." was all I could say and I swore I saw a small amount of disappointment in Caroline's eyes.

"Then explain to me why Bonnie's gramps _grew up_ listening to stories about you." Caroline replied with a suddenly stern voice and I knew that there was nowhere around it now.

I was contemplating whether I could use Bonnie as excuse for not telling Caroline my story now, when my newly purchased cell phone rang.

"Excuse me." I quickly told Caroline, who sighed in frustration, and left the room.

"Hello?" I spoke into the phone, not having checked who was calling me.

"_Where are you?_" Rebekah asked in the other end and I sighed at her rude tone.

"With a friend." I replied, knowing that she wouldn't like this particular friend.

"_Caroline_." the original blonde said and I could almost hear her scowling.

"Where have you been all day?" I inquired as I shifted to a safer topic.

"_New York. I was bored so I went shopping. What have you been doing today?_" Rebekah replied casually and I couldn't help but roll my eyes as she was seemingly oblivious to everything that had happened in Mystic Falls while she was away.

"Oh, nothing much. Just got rid of a few ghosts who were visiting from the Other Side." I told her with a sarcasm that surprised me. Four days of living with Damon and he was already rubbing of on me.

"_Sounds fun_." was all Rebekah said and I heard myself scoff loudly.

"Did you hear a word of what I said?"

"_Sure, something about a ghost. When are you coming back to the house?_"

"I don't know. In fifteen minutes perhaps?" I replied, not sure why that was important to her. Clearly she didn't care about the fact that I had been in mortal danger today, but now that she felt lonely I suddenly mattered again.

"_Great! Bye, darling._" Rebekah exclaimed with a sudden cheeriness and then hung up before I had a chance to answer. I stared at the silent phone for a long moment before I put it away and went back to Caroline.

"Caroline, is it possible for me to make use of the ride you offered me home now?" I asked hesitantly, not sure if she would let me leave without answering her questions.

"Sure." Caroline said with a shrug and I smiled at her gratefully. The ride home was silent, but I could feel Caroline's curious gaze on me all the way.

* * *

><p><strong>Third person P.O.V.<strong>

"Is Mason screwing with me or is something in there?" Damon called after Alaric as the hunter walked further into the cave, where Damon wasn't allowed entry.

The vampire was almost certain that every word that had come out of Mason Lockwood's mouth was bullshit and he had just wasted a whole day following the ghost around. After all, why would anyone want redemption when there was revenge to be had?

"Ric?" Damon said when his friend didn't reply and he quickly became impatient. "Ric?"

"I found something." Alaric finally answered with an almost amazed voice as he let the flashlight glide over the cave's walls. He couldn't make much sense of it in the dark, but he recognized some of it as runes while other things just looked like random drawings.

"What is it?" Damon asked, surprised that Mason had actually been telling the truth and a long moment passed before the history teacher finally replied.

"I have no idea."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: So what do you think? I know the whole vision thing with Klaus and Caroline is cheesy, but I couldn't help myselfxD But witches get visions and this is all about finding some humanity in Klaus after all. We all know a blonde who does that;)  
>We've reached the moment where we finally learn Malina's story. I'm gonna post it soon.<br>Toodles!**


	9. Chapter 7

**Third person P.O.V.**

"What is all this?" Elena asked with a small frown as she let her flashlight glide over the walls of the cave. Drawings and symbols that were carved in decorated the stone walls and for a moment her thoughts went back to what they had learned about Neanderthals in history.

"Well, as far as I can tell it's a story. In simple archaeological terms: it's a really, really old story." Alaric informed her casually and there was a certain distance in his voice that made it sounds as if he didn't really believe what he was seeing.

"That right there is the moon cycle." the history teacher continued as he shone light on a drawing of three moons, each drawn differently. He then turned the light to another drawing beside it and Elena's gaze followed. "A man, a wolf."

"A werewolf." Elena finished incredulously as she lit it up with her own flashlight.

"Yeah, it's the Lockwood Diaries: Pictionary style." Damon called from behind the two humans and Elena turned to Alaric with a confused expression on her face.

"I don't understand. I thought the Lockwoods came here with the Original Founders in the 1860s." Elena said as she looked between the two men.

"I don't know. Maybe the Lockwoods did." Alaric replied as he dropped his bag to the cave floor and shone light on the walls once more. "But according to this wall, these werewolves have been here a lot longer than that."

"How long?" Elena asked and she was now certain the frown on her forehead would cause permanent damage. Eighteen was too young for wrinkles, but with all her worries she wouldn't be surprised if she woke up tomorrow with completely grey hair.

"Long." Damon answered before Alaric had the chance, clearly feeling left out at the threshold of the cave. "It gets better. Show her, Ric."

"Names." Alaric said as he moved towards the wall and lifted the light from his flashlight upwards. Elena spun around to see what looked like a strange mix of letters and symbols being lit up and looked at Alaric in question. "They're not native. They're written in Runic, a Viking script."

"Vikings?" Elena asked disbelievingly, almost feeling the urge to laugh and somewhere in the back of her mind she remembered the history lesson they had had a couple days before. Rebekah had mentioned something about Vikings, hadn't she?

"This name here," Alaric told as he lifted the flashlight a little further upwards, "I translated it and it reads Niklaus."

"Klaus." was the only word that left Elena's mouth and Alaric sent her a sympathetic look. He had been at least as shocked as Elena was now, when he had managed to translate it. He had even repeated the process multiple times to be certain.

"And Elijah…" Alaric continued after a short pause and shone the light on two other names, "and Rebekah."

"These are the names of the Original Family?" Elena asked with a fear stricken voice as she slowly realised what this all meant.

"Carved into a cave that's been here way before the founding of Mystic Falls." Alaric said with a small laughter in his voice as he still had no idea how to process all of this. He knew the Original Family was old, but this just seemed ridiculous. "Or even the entire New World, for that matter."

"Okay, this gotta be one of Klaus' fakes. Like the sun and moon curse." Elena replied, desperate to find another explanation to all of this.

"That's what I said." Damon commented from behind them, but Alaric just moved the light to another name.

"That could be true, except the last name up here made us think otherwise." Alaric told Elena and the doppelgänger took a step closer to look at the name, finding no luck with decoding it.

"What's the name?" she asked after a short moment, afraid of what the answer might be and she noticed Alaric's shoulders slump slightly.

"Mikael."

"Mikael… Mikael as in the vampire hunter who knows how to kill Klaus?" Elena inquired with an almost shaking voice.

"Yep. I now like to call him 'Papa Original'." Damon told them with a small smirk gracing his lips, but even he had trouble with being playful.

"I'm going to take pictures of all of it so we can figure this out. You should go home and get ready for school." Alaric told Elena as he found the camera in his bag and started taking pictures, lighting up the cave with each flash.

"But first, we're going to do a little vampire hunter training." Damon said with a smile, earning a glare from Alaric that he ignored. "Come on, Buffy. Ric, we'll see you at the apartment."

After spending fifteen minutes of taking pictures of every inch of surface, Alaric packed together his stuff and left. Damon and Elena were already training when he returned to his apartment and he tried to ignore the way Damon sometimes held onto Elena a little too long and most of all how Elena let him.

"These images tell a story… to learn the story; you have to decipher these images." Alaric said frustratingly as he looked down on the printed out copies of the pictures he had taken. He almost felt as if he was talking to himself as he stood with his back to Damon and Elena, who seemed more focused on their 'training' than what he was saying.

"Sloppy." Damon berated Elena as he easily took the stake from her hands.

"Shut up. I'm new at this." The doppelgänger retorted as she took back the stake and placed a kick towards the vampire's stomach, which he leisurely leaned away from.

"'Ghost of Christmas Past' Mason Lockwood said the cave would lead us to a weapon that could kill Klaus." Damon called out as he easily threw off Elena's attacks on him.

"Yeah, but doesn't Mikael have a weapon?" Elena asked out of breath and pushed the stake forward, only to have Damon catch her arm.

"Yes, which probably mean that the wall will lead us to Mikael, who we've already found… and lost." Damon said irritatingly before he spun Elena around, holding her against his chest.

"Bang! You're dead." he whispered into Elena's ear and pretended to bite her in the neck. Damon didn't fight her as she pushed him away and sent Elena a smirk when she glared at him.

"These images in the very least might tell us what that weapon is." Alaric reasoned without taking his eyes from the carvings.

"Then all we have to do is find out what they mean." Elena said as she stood beside Alaric, who nodded in agreement.

"Fine! Fine. If I'm being irritatingly optimistic like you two…" Damon called from behind them, still twirling the stake in his hands. "How do you suppose we do that?"

"Well, if the story is about the Original Family living here, then we go right to the source." Elena told them as she grabbed a picture from the table and walked out of the apartment.

"That won't end well." Damon mused as he watched Elena leave and then moved to take her place beside Alaric.

"You aren't going to stop her?" Alaric asked incredulously, but Damon just shrugged.

"If you have a better idea, please speak up!" the vampire retorted hauntingly, but Alaric didn't reply as he went back to staring at the pictures.

"What's this name?" Damon suddenly asked as he held up a picture of a carving Alaric hadn't noticed before. He had only seen eight names on the cave walls and this wasn't one of them. It looked a little smaller than the others and as though it didn't really belong. An even smaller name was written below it.

"Just a second." Alaric said as he found the book he had used to translate the other names. He then took the picture from Damon and pulled out a sharpie to write down the translation on a post-it.

"This is a 'M'," he started with a low voice and then frowned slightly when he translated the next letter, "and an 'A'. Then comes a 'L', an 'I', a 'N' and at last another 'A'."

"Well, who would've thought?" Damon said with an almost amused tone in his voice as they both stared down at the familiar name. "I must give it to her; Malina does look good for her age."

"This doesn't make sense." Alaric just said, having trouble believing his own eyes. It was one thing that the Originals were a thousand years old and there was a whole cave filled with their story. But it was an entire other thing that Malina had been a part of that story all those centuries ago. She wasn't even a vampire.

"Sorry, buddy. But your little crush has been hiding a few things from you." Damon said with feigned sympathy as he patted Alaric on the back reassuringly, but the vampire hunter didn't even seem to hear what he was saying.

"How can she be a _thousand_ years old and _not_ be a vampire?!" Alaric asked incredulously, unable to look away from the letters on the picture and even Damon had to admit that it was bothering him.

"I guess we just have to find out." Damon replied as he pulled out his phone and scrolled through his contacts.

"What are you doing?" Alaric asked as he finally tore his eyes from the table and looked at the vampire, who just answered with a smirk.

"Hello, Blondie. I have an assignment for you."

* * *

><p><strong>Malina's P.O.V.<strong>

"_Hello?_" a female voice rang through the phone as the witch finally answered my call and a smile grew on my lips.

"Hi, Emma." I replied timidly, not knowing what else to say and awaited her possibly explicit reaction.

"_Malina? Holy shit, is that you?_" Emma almost yelled into the phone and I had to stop myself from laughing as I knew that wouldn't amuse her one bit.

"I am sorry that I haven't called you earlier, but-" I started apologizing, but Emma quickly cut me off.

"_You're _sorry_? I haven't heard from you in _days_. I thought you were freaking dead!_" Emma exclaimed angrily, but I could also hear the relief in her voice and a smile appeared on my lips once more. Emma had a devil-may-care attitude about a lot of things, but she also worried more than she should about some people.

"I am not dead, Emma. I'm fine." I told her with an insistent voice and she finally sighed on the other end.

"_So… have you found him yet?_" Emma asked curiously and I noticed how she deliberately didn't say Niklaus' name. She had even called him You-Know-Who and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named a few times, which apparently was yet another reference to popular culture that I didn't understand.

"I have. Although he sort of left again." I admitted as I pulled a face that she couldn't see.

"_Yeah, I heard about some disturbance among the werewolves. My guesses were on Klaus, so I guess I'm right. Why aren't you with him?"_ Emma informed me and I frowned at her careless tone. I knew that Emma hated all werewolves after one had graced her with long scars of claw marks from her left cheek and down across her throat. But sometimes she became a little too unsympathetic.

"It is a really long story, but basically I didn't want to go with him." I explained to her with a sigh, hoping that she would leave it be for now. As I absentmindedly watched the other students passing by me, I suddenly noticed Caroline striding determinedly towards the bench I was sitting on.

"Emma, I have to go now. But I will call you back." I quickly told her before she could reply to what I had said the moment before and I smiled at Caroline as she moved closer.

"_Fine, but if you ever again let me think that you are dead, then I will come and kill you myself._" Emma replied threateningly and I held back a laugh once more.

"I won't even fight you." I told her teasingly and I could hear her scoff in the other end.

"_Don't be a stranger. Bye, Lina!_" Emma called and hung up before I could say anymore. I stared at my phone for a moment, confused by her last words. How was I ever supposed to be a stranger when we already knew each other?

"Hey Malina." Caroline greeted as she suddenly stood in front of me, pulling me from my confused thoughts. I blinked in surprise as she abruptly sat down beside me and I quickly noticed how tense she seemed. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Good morning to you too." I replied with a frown and I could see how some of the blonde's resolve disappeared from her eyes. "And sure. I shall see if I can answer."

"Are you a thousand years old?" Caroline asked as soon as my permission was given and she almost looked relieved to have those words leave her mouth. I, on the other hand, was taken aback by the intrusiveness and I felt my mouth open and close a couple of times even though no sounds left me.

"What makes you ask that?" I said instead of answering and sighed in frustration when I heard how weak my own voice sounded.

"Okay. So Mason Lockwood showed Damon this cave yesterday, before Bonnie sent all the ghosts back, and inside we found a lot of carvings. Among those were also names written in Runic. All the names of the Original Family was there… and yours." Caroline explained to me so quickly that I only caught the last half of it.

"So we kind of guessed that you were alive at the time the names were carved in, which is about a thousand years ago, apparently." Caroline continued explaining and it looked like she had trouble grasping her own words, giving me a little longer to reply before she noticed my silence.

"I know about the cave." I finally admitted and Caroline looked at me with wide eyes, probably expecting it all to be some sort of trick. "I used to come there with Niklaus and some of his other siblings. But I never carved in my name and neither did Niklaus. It was sort of their spot and I was only a friend."

"Wait, so you did live a thousand years ago?" Caroline asked incredulously and she stood up very quickly when I nodded. "Come with me."

"What? Why?" I managed to say as Caroline suddenly took my hand and started dragging me towards her car.

"We're going to Alaric's apartment." Caroline just said as we reached her car and she gently pushed me inside.

"I ask again: why?" I demanded to know as I felt myself become irritated. Caroline didn't answer as she quickly reversed out of her parking lot and drove off.

"I need you tell your story to me and Alaric. I'll get Bonnie to come too." the blonde vampire spoke after a minute of silence and I lifted my eyebrows in indignation.

"And if I don't want to?" I asked angrily, making the corner of Caroline's mouth twitch. There was something about her nervousness that told me she didn't want to do all of this and I realised with a sigh that Damon probably was forcing her.

"Didn't you need to tell the story to Bonnie anyway? Please, Malina. Elena is already getting Rebekah to tell her, but we just want to hear it from you as well." Caroline pleaded and I couldn't help but feel bad for the vampire. At least until I understood what she was telling me.

"Elena is talking to Rebekah?!" I exclaimed with disbelieve and Caroline suddenly looked very worried.

"Is that bad?" she asked hesitantly and I couldn't do anything but shrug. I had no idea what Rebekah would be willing to tell, but I knew that Niklaus wouldn't be happy either way.

"Okay, I will tell you my story. But there might be questions that I will not answer. Do you understand?" I told her in a stern voice and the blonde nodded eagerly.

Moments later, we pulled up beside an apartment building and Caroline quickly exited the car as I found myself hesitating. I knew I had to tell Bonnie my story and I kind of wanted Caroline to know. But the thought of Alaric being there, made me nervous for reasons unknown to me.

"We're here!" Caroline called out as we entered the spacious apartment and I felt like a child hanging on to her mother's skirts as I stayed right behind the blonde vampire. That was until I noticed all the pictures on the table and I quickly moved over to look at them, not noticing how I was invading Alaric's personal space.

"You recognize them?" he asked curiously, but I didn't register how close his voice was as I continuously picked up a new picture from the table, only to put it back down again. I nodded after a long pause, realising that I had to answer and then stilled when I found the carving I was looking for.

I let my fingertips move over the two names in amazement, noticing how my name was written in Latin on a yellow piece of paper atop of the picture. The name below mine hadn't been deciphered yet and I felt how tears sprung to my eyes at the sight of it. I almost laughed when I recognized Kol's sloppy writing and I placed a light kiss on the picture, ignoring the others' stares.

"Malina?" Caroline's voice called out gently and I spun around to face the others, quickly drying away my tears.

"Hmm?" I hummed in question before looking at Alaric, who was still standing right next to me.

"Are you alright?" Alaric asked in a low voice and I quickly nodded, sending him a forced smile before I moved my eyes to Bonnie.

"Hi, Bonnie. How are you?" I asked her with a teary voice and I had to clear my throat mid-sentence.

"I'm fine." Bonnie shrugged and I noticed how she seemed off as well. "I'm still not sure why you care so much, though."

From the corner of my eye I saw Caroline open her mouth to berate her friend, but I shook my head at her and smiled at Bonnie understandingly.

"Then perhaps it is time that I told you." I told her with a nod as I unconsciously held the picture of my name against my heart. I could feel my hands tremble lightly and I knew that Alaric had noticed as well.

"Do you want some water?" he asked attentively and I nodded with a grateful smile on my lips.

"Do you need to sit down?" Caroline then asked as she placed herself in a chair close to me and I watched as Bonnie did the same.

"No, I think I need to stand up for this. I am too nervous to sit down." I admitted with a shaky laugh as I accepted the glass of water Alaric gave me. I watched him expectantly, waiting for him to take a seat as well but instead he just went back to his spot beside me.

"I suppose I should start from the beginning." I said and closed my eyes for a short moment. I then took a long sip of the water and placed the glass on the table behind me, careful not to touch any pictures.

"Before I was born, my parents lived in Northern Europe. Both my father and mother came from a long line of witches, which made their match most favourable. They were supposed to breed a new line of more powerful witches, but when my mother didn't bore a child after a year of marriage, their families shunned them.

"They had to move from their own home and at last they found a new one with a married couple, who were in the process of starting a family of their own. The woman was a witch as well and she became my mother's confidant. The man and woman were named Mikael and Esther, and had two children already. That year an awful plague cursed through the continent and took many lives, including the couple's oldest child.

"My mother prayed to the spirits for help and they told her of a new world over the seas, where the plague wouldn't go. My parents easily convinced the couple to go with them along with a few other families, including my mother's sister, and a few months after, they had settled on a piece of land that is now the town of Mystic Falls." I finished the first part of the story and paused to take another sip of the water, while I looked at my small audience.

Caroline was watching me with eyes sparkling of curiosity and was literally placed on the edge of her seat. Bonnie met my gaze calmly, but I could see how she was impatient to hear the rest of my story. I was surprised to see that Alaric wasn't even looking at me, but the tension in his body told me that he was listening.

"But the Europeans weren't the only ones living there and every full moon the forest was roamed by the wolfmen. Or as you call them now: the werewolves. Not much time passed before Esther bore another child and two more was born before my mother finally became pregnant as well. When I came into the world I was weak and having watched Esther give birth to four boys, my father wasn't happy that he had been graced with a girl."

"Esther gave birth to two more children, a girl and a boy, but my mother remained fruitless once again. I might have been an only child, but I was never without siblings and as I grew up I found a best friend in one of Esther's children."

"Klaus." Caroline said with a soft voice and I nodded in confirmation.

"It all sounds so normal." Alaric commented from beside me and I turned to see him staring back at me.

"It was. We laughed, we cried. Fell in love and had our hearts' broken. I think Niklaus and I bonded over the fact that our fathers never seemed to care about us. Nik had it worst, but mine never spoke to me more than what was necessary." I told and I could hear the bitterness in my voice.

"Mikael hated Klaus back then?" Alaric asked with a surprised look in his eyes and I turned my eyes towards the table, quickly finding a picture of Mikael's name in between. I glared at it for a long moment, hoping it would catch fire and gave out a little yelp when it suddenly did.

"Sorry!" I quickly said as Alaric poured the rest of my water over the picture and I bit my lower lip sheepishly.

"Wow, you really don't like him." Caroline said with a small laugh, but I couldn't share her amusement as I looked at her.

"No, he is a monster. And you are fools for attempting to call on him. I promise you that nothing good will come from it." I warned them in a steely voice and I noticed Caroline flinch slightly, while Alaric took on a deep frown.

"No need to spare our feelings." Bonnie said sarcastically and I turned my gaze to her, making her squirm in her seat as well.

"I'm not. I am trying to tell you that once Mikael arrive here, there is no turning back. Mikael will do everything in his power to kill Niklaus and he will not care who is in his way. I am warning you, that's all." I replied in a calm voice and a tense silence filled the room before Caroline – as expected – broke it.

"Why do you hate him so much?" she asked with a small voice and I suddenly felt bad for snapping at her before.

"Mikael was and is a prideful man. And he has a violent temper. Something Niklaus felt more than any of his siblings. Mikael was scary to everyone, which is why no one ever stood up for Niklaus, when the man decided to teach his son a lesson. Most of us tried once – I was only spared because my mother intervened – but Niklaus refused to let us take his punishment and as we got older, he just kept quiet about it.

"I was almost eighteen, when I married Jason and just a month later, I became pregnant with his child. Despite my heritage, my powers had not yet shown their full potential and I mostly just used them for healing or teasing Niklaus. But it all ended the day my father told me that he had given me to Jason. He was only a couple of years older than me, but he already had a reputation for being violent and crude. It was my father's punishment to my mother for giving birth to a girl.

"Niklaus asked my father for my hand in marriage only minutes after I had told him about Jason, and so did two of his brothers – one of them being Elijah – but my father rejected them all. Jason was nice in the beginning and I started to believe that I could learn to love him, until the day he found me doing magic. He had thought it clear that from the day we married, I would no longer use magic. He wanted me to turn my back on my own nature and when I argued, he struck me for the first time.

"My father died before my daughter was born, but Jason made sure to punish me for him. He only hit me once but I lived in constant fear that he would hurt my child. I followed Niklaus' example and never told anyone. Today you can leave your spouse or get a divorce, but back then only death could do you part."

My voice was shaking as I reached the part of the story that I dreaded the most, but I knew had to tell them. If anything, this was a way of showing them that Niklaus wasn't only the monster they made him out to be. He had been human once and I knew that I could bring out that part of him again.

"To my relief Jason wanted nothing to do with our child and never have I felt happier than when he refused to even look at her. I watched my daughter grow up and become the most beautiful thing I had ever laid eyes on. Niklaus loved her almost as much as I did and she was impossible to get back, when first Rebekah had her in her arms."

I could feel the tears stream down my face as I laughed at the mental picture. The saying 'You don't know what you got until it's gone' never applied to the happiness I felt around my daughter. I treasured every moment with her and I knew that I could never again be as happy as I had been for those three years.

"Malina, if you need a break or something-" Caroline said with a soft voice but I interrupted her with a violent shake of my head. If I stopped now, I would never start again.

"What was her name?" Bonnie asked from beside Caroline and I was surprised to see the tears that rimmed her dark eyes. I smiled as I looked down at the picture in my hand, gasping horrified when I found it curled up in my fist.

"Oh no, no, please." I whispered as I tried to straighten it out, but the names remained unreadable and my hands started shaking uncontrollably, making me drop the picture. I looked up when a pair of large hands suddenly encased mine and I met Alaric's worried gaze.

"It's okay, Malina. I'll make you a new one, okay?" he told me reassuringly and I found myself nodding as I closed my eyes, taking several deep breaths. "It's her named that is carved in under yours, isn't it?"

"Yes." I sighed as I answered Alaric's question and slowly pulled my hands from his. "Her name was Astrid. It means beautiful goddess in Old Norse."

"I love that name." Caroline said with a shaky voice and I noticed how a single tear fell down her cheek. Who knew I was able to depress so many people at once.

"I did too." I told her with a small smile and took a few breaths so I would be able to finish my story.

"She died a few weeks after her third birthday of some illness. We never found out what it was, but it was so sudden and it was as if she just fell asleep and never woke up again. Jason was going to bury her in the woods where the wolves would probably dig her up, but Niklaus managed to stop him. We buried her besides a great white oak tree in the middle of the village and not long after a new sort of flower started growing. You know it as vervain."

"Your daughter created vervain?!" Caroline asked incredulously and I couldn't help but laugh at the shocked expression on her face. It took me a moment to realise that Alaric and Bonnie looked just like her.

"I don't know. We had never seen the flower before and that is saying a lot considering my mother's knowledge of herbs and plants. Perhaps it was just chance that they should grow there and not somewhere else." I told them with a small shrug, but for some reason I couldn't help but feel a surge of pride. Who would've known how important vervain would become?

"Almost a year passed before tragedy struck again. Niklaus went into the woods on a full moon to see the men change into wolves. I warned him but he wouldn't listen. Even without using my powers, I always had a sense of premonition and I somehow knew that our lives would change that night. But there was nothing I could say to stop him so instead I went to bed. We were woken by screams at dawn and I ran out to see Niklaus sit beside his mutilated little brother. Henrik, the youngest, had followed Niklaus into the woods and had been attacked by the wolves. There was nothing to be done and Henrik died in his brother's arms.

"Esther and Mikael had now lost two children and refused to lose any more so Mikael came up with a plan to make himself and his family immortal. The village had lived in peace with werewolves for almost three decades, but now Mikael needed to defend his family against them."

"Wait, so vampirism wasn't some sort of curse?" Caroline asked confusedly and I shook my head in response.

"Esther and Mikael asked my mother to call on the spirits for help, but she refused to go against nature and give them immortality. The necklace that we destroyed last night belonged to the Original Witch." I continued and frowned when I saw a nervous look pass between Alaric and Bonnie.

"The witch who put the hybrid curse on Klaus." Caroline stated as if she was clarifying to the others who I was talking about.

"Yes." I replied and looked at Alaric and Bonnie once more, who was no longer looking at each other. Perhaps I was just being paranoid. "The Original Witch was also the one who cast the Immortality Spell."

"And the Original Witch was?" Bonnie asked curiously and we were all surprised when Caroline answered.

"Esther, right? I mean she was a witch too and a witch from the Original Family must be the Original Witch." Caroline explained eagerly and shifted in her seat when she noticed the looks we were sending her. "Or is that completely wrong? It is, isn't it? I'm sorry. Did I ruin the story?"

"Caroline, relax. You are absolutely right. I am just astonished that you could guess it." I told her quickly and smiled when a proud look shone in her eyes.

"The night of Henrik's death, Mikael laced the wine with blood from a girl called Tatia. Esther would later use the same girl's blood to bind Niklaus' werewolf side, thus creating a bloodline of doppelgängers." I continued, telling them what Niklaus had told me after I had found him in Chicago.

"So there was a girl that looked exactly like Elena a thousand years ago?" Caroline asked incredulously and I nodded once before continuing.

"Esther cast the spell over her children and husband, but stayed mortal herself as witches are nature's servant. We cannot be both a witch and a vampire. Mikael then drove a sword through the hearts of his children before killing himself. When they woke up, he made them drink the blood of a young girl from the village and that is how the predatory species called vampires began." I finished with a small sigh and leaned back against the table, suddenly feeling very tired.

"What happened to you?" Bonnie asked after a long moment of contemplating silence and I sent a small smile.

"The morning of Henrik's death I reacted very strongly and by accident I used magic, which rocked the white oak tree Astrid was buried by. It wasn't much, but Jason became enraged and dragged me back to our home. At that point he had only laid a hand upon me three times – the third time was after Astrid's burial – but he lost control and beat me until his knuckles bled.

"Everyone was too busy with Henrik's death that they didn't notice my absence. Jason would leave and then come back a couple of hours later. If I was conscious or started to move, he would kick me or place a hand over my mouth and nose until my lungs burned. I was slowly dying and it wasn't until the sun set that my mother found me; left beaten and broken on the floor by Jason.

"We both knew that no healing magic could repair what Jason had destroyed, but my mother knew something I didn't and she left for a short moment, only to return with Niklaus. I was confused when I had to invite him inside and scared when I saw the veins under his eyes as he smelled my blood. I never learned how my mother knew, but she cut into Niklaus' wrist and made me drink his blood. Suddenly my wounds were healing, but we only had a short moment of relief before Jason returned.

"Niklaus realised what Jason had done to me and before I could stop him, he had lunged at my husband. Jason was dead in less than a minute. And then came the worst part. By killing Jason, Niklaus' triggered the wolf gene that nobody knew he had. His bones started breaking and his painful cries filled the night. Elijah came and we both tried to reach him, but were held back by our parents.

"I remember Mikael's hate and disgust as he called Niklaus an abomination and ordered Elijah to carry him away. I still had no idea what had happened, but my mother told me what Esther had done to her family and explained that Mikael wasn't Niklaus' real father. Esther had had an affair with a werewolf from a neighbour village and Mikael had punished Niklaus for it his whole life.

"I begged my mother to help Niklaus, to help all of them and then she left me once more. When she returned she told me about the curse Esther had placed on Niklaus, using the moon stone that my mother had given her. What nobody knew was that my mother had taken a piece from it and reshaped it to look whole once more. Esther was a strong witch, but my mother was stronger."

My fingers unconsciously found the pendant resting against my chest and fiddled with it as I continued my story.

"She then told me that there was a way that I could help. What Esther had done to her children would change them more than just physically. It would rob them of their humanity and Niklaus more than any of them. So we cast a spell. My mother granted me eternal life, but still with all the weaknesses of a human being. And I tied myself to the moonstone and Niklaus. The spell would cast me into a deep sleep that would be broken when Niklaus' broke his curse. I needed to find him then and bring back what little there was left of his humanity."

"So what you're telling us is that you've been sleeping for a thousand years?" Alaric asked with his mouth agape and I tried hard not to smile.

"Yes." was all I said.

"Why?" Caroline then asked and I looked at her confusedly.

"What do you mean?"

"If you have eternal youth, why couldn't you just stay awake and make sure Klaus never lost his humanity?" the blonde wondered with a confused expression on in her eyes.

"Magic always has a price and especially the kind of magic that we did. Mother Nature works in mysterious ways and a sleeping curse, so to speak, was what I had to pay to be young forever. And who knows? Maybe I would have failed and my humanity would have been lost as well if I had stayed awake." I explained with a small shrug, mostly just guessing as I hadn't asked my mother about the details of it all.

"And what has all of this to do with me?" Bonnie asked after a contemplating silence had filled the room.

"I would only wake up when Niklaus' broke the curse, but no one knew when that would happen. My mother made sure to keep my body safe until her death; keeping it hidden from Niklaus' and his siblings. She needed someone she could trust to take over the care afterwards, so she trained my niece and nephew in witchcraft, which they had both inherited from their mother, and passed my body onto them.

"Their children then took over after their death and thus my body was kept in the care of my family for a millennium until I woke up and was greeted by a witch named Emma Bennett." I told her with a soft smile and awaited her reaction.

Caroline's mouth had opened in an 'O' shape and the wheels seemed to be turning vigorously behind the Bennett witch's green eyes.

"I have a distant cousin named Emma." Bonnie finally said with a croaking voice and I nodded in confirmation. "So you're like my ancestor or something?"

"Well, not directly since your blood line started with my mother's sister, but yes. The same blood runs in our veins, Bonnie Bennett. If all was right it should have been you who stood by as I woke from my slumber. As it seems, my story has been passed through generations, preparing daughters and sons for my awakening. Oh my, that sounds very dramatic, doesn't it?" I replied with a serious voice, but couldn't help but laugh as I heard the words leaving me.

"No wonder you can kick so much ass." Caroline muttered to Bonnie and all eyes turned to her as we all heard it.

"So that's why my grandma knew about you. And why we have an emotional connection that your mother could use to see me through." Bonnie said slowly, ignoring her friend's comment as her eyes turned back to me.

"Yes. Admittedly, I only know this from what Emma has told me, but she is quite trustworthy." I told her with another shrug and then glanced at Alaric, who had been quiet for some time now.

"I haven't seen her for years. I didn't even know she was a witch." Bonnie said with a disbelieving look in her eyes and I smiled at her soothingly.

"Apparently she discovered it five years ago when she was about fifteen. She and her mother were attacked by a werewolf one full moon and Emma's powers revealed themselves as she fought for her life. She got a long scratch across her neck, but survived despite of the blood loss. Her mother wasn't as lucky." I informed my shocked descendant and looked to Caroline, who had uttered a horrified "Oh my God".

"I don't know what to say. This is so… strange." Bonnie said with a shaky voice and I stepped forward to place a hand on her shoulder.

"You don't have to say or do anything. Except maybe for start trusting me more." I told her with a half-teasing voice and the Bennett witch only hesitated for a second before nodding. I gave her shoulder a quick squeeze before turning my head to look at Caroline and Alaric. "So… Any questions?"

"I got one." a new voice sounded from the edge of the room and my eyes quickly fell on the annoyed and confused doppelgänger. "What the hell are you doing here?"

* * *

><p><strong>AN: So, did everything make sense? I hope you liked story time:) It has been one of the hardest chapters to write, but totally worth it. And Emma Bennett had a small cameo. I might bring her into the story at a later point. Who knows... And the whole thing with claw marks was inspired by Braeden from Teen Wolf. I love her and she kicks ass. So in this story she's a witch and her name is Emma;) **

**Tell me what you think about the chapter:) I love your reviews!3**


	10. Chapter 8

**_Third person P.O.V._**

"Oh my God." Elena breathed with her gaze fixed on the carvings in the cave wall as she finally figured out what it meant. She then turned her head to look at Malina, who was watching her with a closed-off expression.

"It wasn't Mikael who did it, was it?" the doppelgänger asked incredulously and the sorrowful look in the witch's eyes gave her the answer. "Rebekah doesn't know that it was Klaus who killed their mother."

"What?" Caroline exclaimed from the threshold of the cave, being unable to enter just as Damon had.

"Yes. Niklaus killed Esther." Malina confirmed with a steady voice, but she clearly felt uncomfortable with the reveal.

Scratch that. She was uncomfortable with just being in the cave. There were too many memories and the doppelgänger clearly didn't want her presence. The others had practically begged Elena to allow Malina to come with them after she had found them all in Alaric's apartment.

The only thing that convinced her was that Malina was able to decipher all the carvings without problems. They hadn't really counted on her unwillingness to do so. Or at least that she didn't tell them everything.

"You knew all this time and you haven't told her?" Elena all but yelled at the witch as she stepped forward, but Malina barely moved a muscle.

"I learned it yesterday. And I am not quite sure why this concerns you?" she replied calmly but the look in her eyes was challenging and Elena forced herself not to flinch away.

"She deserves to know that her brother has been lying to her for a thousand years!" Elena retorted with a loud voice and paused for a moment before she determinedly moved towards the exit.

"And where are you going, Miss Gilbert?" Malina asked with a suddenly cold voice as Elena started moving towards Caroline. The doppelgänger stopped and turned around to look at the witch, feeling slightly frightened by the fiery stare she received.

"I'm going to tell Rebekah the truth." Elena said with a challenging voice that wavered slightly by the end. Her arms were crossed in front of her defiantly as Malina walked over and stood in front of her.

"No, you're not. You have no right to do such a thing." Malina informed her and the calm expression had returned to her face. For a moment Caroline even thought that she saw a brief smile.

"Watch me." Elena bit back as she tossed her hair back and turned to leave. The motion was a bit too Katherine-ish but neither Bonnie nor Caroline did more than share a quick look.

A choked sound suddenly left the doppelgänger and they all watched Elena freeze in mid-stride. Malina was watching the brunette's back with a calculating – and slightly scary, Caroline thought – look in her green eyes and her hand was lifted towards Elena.

"What the hell did you do?!" Alaric yelled angrily as he moved forward to check if the doppelgänger was okay. Behind them Bonnie was raising her hand as Caroline watched the whole thing with a shocked expression.

"Elena is perfectly fine. She just has a little difficulty moving." Malina told them with a concentrated voice as she focused her powers on Elena. "Bonnie, please lower your hand. I am stronger than you and fighting me will only tire you out."

"You said that I could trust you! You promised that you wouldn't hurt my friends!" Bonnie said through gritted teeth as she moved to stand beside the other witch.

"And I am keeping to that promise. Elena is feeling no pain. We are family, Bonnie and you _can_ trust me. But Rebekah is also my family and I have to take care of her. Trust me on this: I will do anything for my family." Malina replied in a collected voice and lowered her hand as the freezing spell stuck on the doppelgänger.

"You don't think Rebekah deserves to know the truth?" Alaric then asked and Malina turned her eyes to him with a sudden apologetic expression.

"I do. And I will tell her. But I will not allow Elena to do this to her. This will break her heart and Elena doesn't care about that. Neither of you do. You see it as an opportunity to gain an ally against Niklaus and that might be the possible outcome of this, but I will not let you exploit her feelings like that." Malina replied coolly and her voice slowly rose as she spoke.

"After all Rebekah has done you expect us to care about her feelings?" Bonnie asked indignantly as she glared at Malina and then turned her eyes to the frozen doppelgänger.

"No." Malina answered with a pointed glare and stepped around Elena to exit the cave. "Which is exactly my point. The spell will wear off as soon as I am a mile away. If you would please excuse me."

"I'll give you a lift." Caroline told the witch with a small voice as Malina passed her on the way out, but she barely seemed to hear the blonde's words.

"Caroline!" Bonnie exclaimed incredulously as the vampire was about to follow Malina and blonde curls flew through the air as Caroline turned to look at her friends.

"It's just a ride, Bonnie." the baby vampire sighed and momentarily turned her eyes to Alaric, who didn't seem bothered by Caroline's offer to help Malina.

"So you're choosing _her_ over us?!" the Bennett witch asked with an annoyed look on her face.

"No. I'm choosing to do the right thing instead of being an insensitive jerk." Caroline said decisively and then flashed away before anyone could argue further.

It only took Caroline a few seconds to find Malina, who was walking through the woods in the wrong direction. The witch jumped a little when the vampire suddenly stood in front of her, but a small smile quickly found its way to Malina's lips.

"You're going the wrong way, you know." Caroline told her teasingly, but Malina was too tired to find it funny.

"Oh." was all the witch said, but she didn't move.

"Come with me. I'll drive you." Caroline continued and made a small gesture with her head in the right direction.

"Caroline, I'm fine. I can find my own way."

"I can see that." the blonde retorted with a sly smile that Malina couldn't help but return.

"I don't want you to fight with your friends because of me." Malina said with a pointed look, half-heartedly trying to refuse Caroline's offer to help.

"They understand. Or they will. Even Elena. Besides, you're my friend too." Caroline chirped and started walking in the direction of her car as Malina moved to follow her.

"I'm your friend?" Malina asked with a surprised voice, not sure how she would define her relationship with Caroline. The blonde made a sudden stop and turned to look at Malina with an uncertain look in her eyes.

"I mean, kind of. If you want to. Or is it too soon? Or too weird? I know we're not exactly on the same side and my friends are kind of trying to kill your friend. I guess that does make things a bit awkward. Should we not be friends? Because I totally understand if you don't want to be and-" Caroline rambled on with incredible speed and didn't stop until Malina grabbed her hands.

"I would love to be your friend, Caroline." she said with an amused and reassuring smile.

"Great! Then you won't mind me doing this." Caroline replied with a wide smile and grabbed hold of Malina.

Malina stumbled forward when she suddenly stood on solid ground once more and placed a hand against Caroline's car for support. Running at vampire speed when you weren't prepared – or a vampire – was far from a pleasant experience and it took Malina several seconds to regain her breath.

"Sorry." Caroline sang with an apologetic look in her eyes and made a funny grimace when Malina had trouble breathing evenly. "I just thought that this would be faster. And I kind of figured you wouldn't agree to do it."

"You're right." Malina breathed out and finally rose to her full height to fill her lungs completely with air. After another exhale her lungs didn't seem so empty anymore and she sent Caroline a tight smile.

Caroline watched the witch for a moment longer before she walked around the car and got into the driver's seat. The engine was already on when Malina followed her inside and soon they were out of the woods, and on their way to the Boarding House.

"You know I actually kind of hate you for telling that story." Caroline told the witch after a minute of silence and Malina's eyebrows flew up in surprise.

"My story? And here I thought we were friends." Malina replied in a teasing tone, understanding that Caroline wasn't being literal.

"Well, I don't really hate you. Or maybe just a little." Caroline teased back but there was a serious tone in her voice and a thoughtful expression on her face.

"Why?" Malina asked with a small frown, mimicking Caroline's seriousness.

"You just reminded me that things aren't black and white. It's hard to believe that Klaus was human once. And that he was actually capable of love." Caroline spoke slowly and it seemed as if it was hard for her to get the words out.

"He still is. Capable of love, I mean. And that means that he's capable of being saved." Malina told the blonde solemnly and a silence spread between them as Caroline stared ahead of her with a speculative look in her eyes.

"One more thing, and I totally understand if you don't wanna talk about it, but I was just sort of wondering… did you conceive Astrid willingly?" Caroline asked hesitantly and sent Malina an unsure glance before turning her eyes to the road once more.

"I suppose you're asking if Jason ever forced himself on me?" Malina questioned softly and then continued when Caroline gave a small nod. "No. I did my marital duty and consummated our union. As I said, Jason was good to me in the start, so yes I willingly slept with him. And continued to do so during the beginning of my pregnancy as well."

"And what then?" Caroline inquired with an almost shaking voice and Malina watched her worriedly as she replied.

"After Astrid's birth he never wanted to touch me in such a way again. And I admit that the feeling was mutual. Jason was a violent man, but he was never a rapist. He wasn't a bad person per se. But like many others he was afraid of what he couldn't control and didn't understand. Magic frightened him most of all."

"Oh. Okay, that's good." Caroline spoke with a teary voice and jumped the slightest when Malina placed a hand on her arm.

"Caroline, is everything okay?" Malina asked concernedly and watched with a frown as the needle on the speedometer slowly climbed higher.

"Sure, why wouldn't it? I don't know why I act like this. Maybe I'm just being neurotic as usual." Caroline laughed with a trembling voice and shook her head at her own foolishness.

"I am sure that you are not being neurotic, but you are however driving much faster than what is allowed on this road. Not all of us are fast healers, Caroline." Malina told her with a stern voice and the blonde seemed to return to reality when she saw the needle hit 75 mph.

"Oh God, I'm so sorry. I didn't notice and I should have. My mother is the sheriff for heaven's sake! I'm really sorry, Malina!" Caroline said with a panicked voice as she immediately took her foot of the speeder and relaxed her body into the seat. A single tear rolled down the blonde's cheek, but she defiantly wiped it away.

"Something is wrong, Caroline. Will you please tell me? I want to help you if I can." Malina told the crying girl as they parked at the Boarding House, having reached it much faster than expected.

Caroline watched her for a long moment, half expecting Malina to leave the car, and exhaled deeply when she didn't.

"I can't believe I'm telling you this." Caroline breathed and it almost seemed as if she was talking to herself.

"You don't have to if it makes you uncomfortable." Malina assured her and sent a sincere smile.

"I've actually never talked about it. Not really. My mother doesn't know. How would I ever tell her something like that? And we usually just pretend it never happened. I guess it's easier that way. But they forget that I remember. I remember every moment of it and I feel so… so angry. And helpless. I _hate_ feeling helpless." Caroline told the witch with a shaking voice, speaking through her teeth to keep her voice down.

"Someone hurt you. Badly." Malina stated with an underlining fury in her voice that surprised Caroline.

"It's like I can't escape it. It keeps forcing its way back to my mind. One moment I'm with Tyler and the next moment he's there, pushing me back and telling me not to scream. I guess I've learned to build a wall around it. But every time I see him it's like one of the bricks comes loose." Caroline continued as she blankly stared out through the front window.

"You see him often?" Malina asked disbelievingly and a shocked expression was on her face. She knew how it felt to see your abuser everywhere you went, always afraid that he might hurt you again.

"I can't really escape him now that Saint Elena has cast her graze on him." Caroline said bitterly and then laughed humourlessly at her own words. Calling her best friend names in front of Klaus' friend wasn't how she had intended to end her day.

"Did Stefan hurt you?" Malina all but growled and Caroline's eyes widened in distress.

"No! No, no, no. Stefan would never do something like that. I know it doesn't seem like it after what he did to you, but I promise that he would never actually do anything like it." Caroline hurriedly informed her and Malina relaxed only for a moment until she realised who the perpetrator really was.

"I am going to kill him." the witch stated calmly and turned her eyes to a frowning Caroline.

"Stefan?"

"Damon."

"Oh."

"How can your friends not see that this is wrong? Is Elena so blind to let someone who hurt you run around as if nothing happened? Please tell me he apologized. That he has shown remorse, because I know that he's capable of that." Malina asked with a sudden intensity that made Caroline shrink into her seat.

"Damon isn't very good at apologies." Caroline replied dryly and Malina felt her rage grow. They sat in silence for a full minute until Caroline spoke again. "You should probably go talk to Rebekah."

"Yes. Will you be okay?" Malina said and then looked at Caroline worriedly.

"Maybe, someday." Caroline answered with a small smile and Malina sighed in response, suddenly feeling nervous about her conversation with Rebekah. "I'll be out here if you need me."

"I will be fine, Caroline. Go home and get some sleep." Malina tried to reassure her, but Caroline seemed determined to stay so the witch exited the car without further arguing.

"Rebekah?" the witch called out hesitantly as she entered the seemingly empty boarding house.

Malina had no idea where Damon had taken Stefan on their prison break, but she hoped that it was far from here. She didn't need an audience for this.

"In here." Rebekah responded in a dull voice and Malina her voice into the living room, where the Original was pouring herself a drink. "I didn't see you at school today."

"That is because I was not there." Malina said solemnly as she moved to stand in front of the blonde, unable to keep her hands still.

"And where, pray tell, have you been?" Rebekah asked with a small tilt of her head as she inspected the witch, who seemed uncharacteristically nervous.

"I visited Mr. Saltzman apartment." Malina replied with feigned casualty and found a chair across from Rebekah to sit on.

"I must say that you could have done worse." Rebekah said with a smirk on her lips and it took Malina a long moment to realise what the blonde meant.

"That was not what I meant, Rebekah. Bonnie and Caroline were there too." Malina explained with a small sigh and a scowl set on the Original's face.

"Giving up on Nik already? I admit that I am a bit surprised. I liked this new and tougher Malina." Rebekah retorted with mirth in her eyes as she leaned forward in her seat, making the witch roll her eyes.

"Enough, Rebekah." Malina snapped at the girl, who flinched slightly, and then took another deep breath. "Actually, we spent the day in quite the same way."

"And how is that?" Rebekah inquired with a raised brow as she eyed the witch with irritation.

"Telling our life story."

"You told it to them?" Rebekah exclaimed disbelievingly and then let out a small laugh. "So Elena has been pestering me all day for nothing?"

"Well, as I heard it she did help you choose a dress for the school dance." Malina said with a pointed glare but Rebekah just smiled back at her.

"So how did they take it?" Rebekah asked with feigned interest and took a sip of her alcohol.

"Well, I think." Malina answered with small shrug and then looked the floor as she knew what she had to do now. "But there is more to the story than you know, Rebekah."

"What do you mean?" Rebekah questioned with new found curiosity and Malina held a long pause before continuing.

"They showed me the cave. And there were all the carvings that Elena probably told you about. But there was one that they couldn't decipher. I could, however. Bekah, what Niklaus had told you about your mother's death is not true." Malina told in a soft but insistent voice.

"What are you on about? Mikael killed mother. Why would Nik lie about that?" Rebekah replied with a raised voice and Malina noticed her pitch getting higher.

"Because he wanted to hide who really killed Esther." Malina said slowly as she stood up and Rebekah soon followed.

It took the Original a moment to realise what Malina was saying, but tears immediately rimmed Rebekah's dark lashes as she understood. Malina steadily held Rebekah's gaze until the blonde began shaking her head violently.

"They are lying to you." Rebekah told the witch in a whisper and then snapped her gaze back to Malina before she screamed. "Don't you see?! They made whatever carving you saw! Nik would never… He couldn't!"

"Rebekah, I know this is not easy to believe and I know you do not want to. But the carving was real. Yesterday, when I saw my mother she told me about Esther's death. Niklaus lost control. I am sure he did not mean to do it." Malina tried to explain with a calm voice and held up her hands towards the advancing vampire.

"You're lying." Rebekah growled at her and Malina ducked when the liquor-filled glass suddenly came flying past her head. "And so is your mother."

A familiar fear settled in Malina's stomach as she met Rebekah's angry gaze and she unwillingly looked to the ground in submission.

"What would I get from lying, Rebekah? I wish with all of my soul that Niklaus didn't do this, but the past cannot be changed. I am truly sorry." Malina yelled back and she slowly felt her courage return.

"Shut up!" Rebekah screamed back and Malina took a step forward in defiance.

"No. We need to talk about this, Rebekah. You need to understand-" Malina said in a strong voice, but was interrupted when she was suddenly pushed against a wall with Rebekah's hand around her neck.

"Stop talking!" the vampire screamed into her face but all Malina could do was make a choking sound. "You know nothing about my family. You are nothing!"

Rebekah's angry shouting was soon replaced by agonizing screams as the Original fell to her knees, clutching her head in pain. The room then became quiet for a couple of seconds, before the silence was broken by Rebekah's sobs.

Malina looked down at the blonde for a long moment and then slowly took a step closer. The witch then squatted in front of Rebekah and gently placed a hand on the crying girl's shoulder.

"Go away." Rebekah mumbled with a teary voice and the sound almost got stuck in her throat.

"Rebekah-" Malina started, but quickly stood back up when the Original flashed her fangs at her.

"Go away!" Rebekah repeated with a scream and tears filled Malina's eyes as she ran out of the house.

* * *

><p><strong>This was a little shorter than usual, but the next one is going to be long!<strong>

**And yes, I adressed the elephant in the room. The whole Caroline/Damon situation that the writers seem eager to ignore. Which is _not okay. _This is a show for teenage girls for heaven's sake! You can't show them abuse like that, never talk about it again and then make the abuser the "good guy". That is a horrible message to send to teenage girls. I know a vampire show requires some abuse of humans and I'm cool with it, but you can't make a character, who is supposed to be strong and independent, walk around as if her best friend's boyfriend never assaulted her. And making her call him Satan once or twice doesn't make up for the apology or trauma that we should have seen four seasons ago! How freaking hard can it be to write in a two minute scene where Damon actually apologizes?!  
><strong>***deep breath*  
><strong>**Well, things are gonna change around here. Malina will see to that;) **

**Besides that I changed the scene where Elena tells Rebekah about Esther's death, because I hated how she did it on the show.  
>Tell me what you think of the chapter:D And sorry about the ranting. <strong>


	11. Chapter 9 - Part one

**_Malina's P.O.V._**

"Locus taceo." I murmured the silencing spell a few times as the door to my room slammed shut behind me.

A relieved sigh escaped me as I glided down the door and hit the floor with a silent thud. My hands were shaking and my vision blurry because of unshed tears.

I should be happy. Mikael was dead. Rebekah had called me while I was still at Caroline's house and I had rushed back to the Boarding House. And there his body lay on the floor in the living room and I watched both Stefan and Rebekah confirm his death until it was my turn to speak to my friend.

_"__Is it true?" Niklaus asked in a voice that was both angry and hopeful. I nodded at first as I didn't think I was able to get a word out, but then remembered he couldn't see me._

_"__Yes. There is a dagger in his heart." I confirmed in a low voice, unable to take my eyes off the corpse on the floor. _

_"__Did you see it happen?" Niklaus continued and I noticed the suspicious tone his voice held. _

_"__No. I was at a… friend's house." I told him hesitantly and I frowned at the humourless chuckle that came from his end. "What?"_

_"__You have made friends." Niklaus responded with a surprised voice but there was an underlining annoyance behind his words as well._

_"__Well, I thought it was time to swap out the old ones." I teased in a casual tone and I could the others stare at me in wonder. I suppose not everyone would get away with talking to the Original Hybrid like that._

_"__Malina." Niklaus then said with a serious voice and the small smile on my lips immediately fell. "Has something else happened that I should know about?"_

_Yes. A lot had happened. But I couldn't tell him that. Not here. _

_"__No. This town is quite boring actually." I replied with a shrug that he couldn't see as I held Rebekah's gaze for a long moment. _

_An uncertain look was in the Original's eyes and she quickly looked to the floor, making me frown at her skittish behaviour. My eyes then turned to Mikael's still body and the unsettling feeling in my gut that I had come to know well began to appear. Not only was my head, but also my powers telling me that something was wrong. _

_"__Maybe you should just stay where you are. I am sure what you are doing is far more important than seeing Mikael's body. He is just… laying there." I tried convincing him with a small laugh and pretended not to see how everyone in the room tensed at my suggestion. _

_"__Still angry with me, are we?" Niklaus chuckled darkly and felt myself frown at his words, not knowing what he meant. "To think that you don't even wish to spend time with your best friend after so long. That doesn't sound like you, Mal."_

_"__That is not it, Nik." I objected with a sigh as I understood what he thought I was telling him. I actually wanted to see Niklaus, because I missed the bastard, but I couldn't bring him in any danger. "I just think that he doesn't deserve your attention."_

_"__I see." Niklaus said in a speculative voice and for a moment I actually thought he was considering my words. "You might be right, but I have waited for this moment too long to not come see his rotten body with my own eyes. I will see you soon, sweetheart. Give Rebekah my love." _

_"__Sure. Bye." I called out in a small voice and the unsettling feeling in my stomach suddenly started to make me nauseous. _

_"__Niklaus will come here soon. Tomorrow, I expect." I told my audience in a steely voice as I tried to hide how affected I really was by the whole situation. I then turned to Elena, who glared back at me, and met her gaze forcefully. "He will want to thank you. And I will remind him what he owes you. If you want your freedom, you will take advantage of that."_

_Elena held my gaze for a long moment before she finally nodded and then looked at Damon for reassurance. The oldest Salvatore brother seemed to be watching me intently as if he knew something was wrong and I felt a sudden surge of anger as I realised something _was_. _

_"__One last thing before I retreat to my room." I said as I stared at Damon and everyone seemed to stop moving in anticipation. "Caroline told me what happened between you and her, Salvatore. Why you are still able to stroll around as you please astounds me. You deserve a lifetime of misery for what you did to that girl. Do it again and I will be the one to grant it to you."_

_"__What do you care about Caroline? She's just some puzzle piece for you to move around." Damon sneered back at me as he took a step forward and I watched how Elena grabbed his arm with a horrified look in her eyes. _

_"__The question is not whether I care, Damon. It is if you plan to apologize to her or not. Because she deserves it. Give her that apology – and I mean a good one – and I will try not to make your life miserable every time that I see you." I threatened with a small smile on my lips and took a step forward as well. _

_I could feel Rebekah follow behind me, while Stefan didn't really seem to care about what was going on. Elena, on the other hand, looked pleasingly guilty._

_"__You know, you use a lot of big words for such a harmless witch. Didn't you promise Bonnie not to hurt her friends? Just because you're friends with the "Big Bad" doesn't make you one." Damon retorted mockingly and ripped his arm from Elena's grip. _

_"__But you are missing a vital point, Salvatore. You are not Bonnie's friend." I told him calmly and there was a moment of complete silence before the sound of Damon's agony filled the room. _

_"__No! Stop it!" Elena screamed at me as she fell to her knees beside the now bleeding vampire and I eyed her momentarily before shifting my gaze to Stefan. He almost looked amused. _

_A few seconds more went by before I dropped my hand and the painful cries ended._

_"__Okay." I agreed and then flicked my wrist. A surprised yelp left the doppelgänger as her surrogate boyfriend fell lifeless to the floor with a broken neck. "Goodnight."_

_"__Goodnight." Stefan responded with a small laugh, but I didn't acknowledge him as I passed by and exited the living room._

My head fell back to lean against the door as I pulled my knees towards me and hugged them to my chest. My body felt overspent and my insides were churning with worry. I suddenly found myself wishing me back to Caroline's house where I had spent the night on her sofa.

The blonde had ordered pizza and found some ice cream in her freezer. Apparently, that was the best cure for a broken heart. Or just when you were sad in general.

But I didn't really need Caroline at the moment. I needed someone who wasn't there and I had become more and more uncertain if I was ever going to see him again. So instead I found my phone in the pocket of my jeans and called his brother.

"_Miss me already?_" Niklaus mused on the other end as I finally got through. I didn't have the strength to roll my eyes so I just huffed indignantly. I could the sound of an engine in the background, which meant that he was already on his way.

"Nik, this doesn't feel right." I told him in a low voice, which was actually unnecessary in the spelled room. But I literally lived in a house full of people who wanted to kill Niklaus and therefore me as well. They just didn't know it.

"_If you are calling to give me some moral lecture about my father's death, then save it. I am in no mood for it._" Niklaus growled at me and I had a feeling that he was going to hang up, which made my exclamation a little too loud.

"No!" I almost shouted into the phone and clasped a hand over my mouth in surprise. "I am happy that he is dead, Nik. But I have this feeling in my gut that tells me it is not over."

"_Are you telling me that Mikael isn't dead?_" Niklaus asked warily and a long pause stretched between us as I thought my answer through.

"He was daggered, not staked. All someone has to do to bring him back is to remove that dagger. Like Elena." I explained slowly as I tried to express my concerns and I could feel Nik hesitate in the other end.

"_Mikael went after Elena. The Salvatores wouldn't risk the life of their precious doppelgänger just to kill me._" Niklaus argued but I could the thoughtful tone of his voice, which meant he was thinking about my words.

"But why would he do that? If he wanted to stop you from making hybrids wouldn't he just… kill you?" I asked hesitantly as I had trouble getting the words out and I heard Niklaus grind his teeth in response.

"_Stefan found a loop hole in the compulsion._" Niklaus stated angrily as he began to understand what I was saying. "_How did they get Rebekah to lie? Did they torture her?_"

"No, I think… I think she agreed to do it." I told him after taking a deep breath. There had been something regretful in the looks she gave me, but I had thought that was because of last night. I wasn't so sure anymore.

"_I advise you to be very certain of this, Malina. This is my little sister that we are talking about._" Niklaus warned me with a small growl and I took a deep breath before answering.

"I am aware, Niklaus. And I wish with all of my heart that I was wrong. But something happened yesterday. And she did not take it well." I informed with a heavy voice and unconsciously rubbed my neck, where small bruises from Rebekah's fingers had appeared.

"_You told me-_" Niklaus started in an angry voice but I quickly cut him off.

"I couldn't tell you while everyone was listening!" I exclaimed defensively and the line went quiet as Nik tried to get his anger under control.

"_What happened?_"

"They found the cave. So I had to tell them our story. But when they showed me the carvings, I realized that there was a part of the story that Rebekah didn't know. Elena would have told her if I hadn't. She knows about Esther, Nik. She knows that Mikael didn't kill your mother."

"_So now she wants me dead._" Niklaus stated in a cold voice and I took another rattling breath.

"She is hurt, Niklaus. You lied to her for a thousand years. You killed her mother!" I tried to reason with him, but I knew it wasn't working.

"_She was my mother too! She abandoned me because Mikael told her to! I was her son but she couldn't even stand to look at me!_" Niklaus screamed through the phone and I could imagine the tears that streamed down his face.

"I know!" I yelled back at him and I felt my own eyes water once more. "Now stop screaming at me!"

"_Are you certain about Rebekah's betrayal?_" Niklaus then asked after almost half a minute of silence.

"No."

"_But your powers?_" he questioned and my hand went to my abdomen where a knot seemed to have formed inside of me. Niklaus knew about my sense of premonition and even though he didn't seem to have listened to it in the past, he did now.

"I feel so nauseous, Nik. I don't know what is going to happen, but this is definitely not over." I told him calmly even though it felt as if a storm was raging inside of me.

Slowly, I let my hand travel towards my neck and I felt a moment of relaxation as my fingers connected with blood-red pendant. It wasn't until I felt the magic spread through my veins that I realized how lonely I was.

A knock on the door made me jump to my feet and my heart started racing in my chest as I wondered if somebody had overheard the phone call despite my spell.

"Malina? It's me, Rebekah. Can I come in?" a timid voice called from the other side of the door and I stared at it for a long moment before answering her request.

"Just a moment!" I called back and quickly moved away from the door as I held the phone to my ear.

"_I wonder what my sister wants._" Niklaus mused but there was a dangerous tone underneath his words.

"What do I say?" I asked with a slightly panicked voice as I fixed my eyes on the door. For a safety measure I intensified the silencing spell and then returned my attention to Nik's voice.

"_Don't tell her anything. And then get as far away from Mikael as possible._" Niklaus told me hurriedly and I started to nod before once again remembering that he couldn't see me.

"I will." I quickly agreed and was about to hang up when Nik's voice stopped me.

"_Be safe, love._"

"You too." I sighed and then the line went dead. I quickly stuffed my phone back into my pocket before opening the door for Rebekah.

"What took you so long?" Rebekah asked with a raised brow as she stepped into my room. Her snootiness was back, but there was still that uncertain look in her eyes that stopped me from snapping at her.

"I was finishing a call." I told her truthfully and closed the door behind her, reactivating the silencing spell.

I knew Rebekah could tell if you lied to her directly. It was like my sense of premonition, she had told me. She had been good at reading people as a human and that had intensified as a vampire.

"Let me guess, you were talking to Barbie?" Rebekah said with a small tilt of her head and I sighed exasperatedly.

"I don't see how that is any of your concern." I replied with a pointed look and went to my desk where I pretended to organize some of my school papers. There weren't many so I suddenly felt myself with nothing to do with my hands once more.

"You are still angry with me." Rebekah stated and there was a noticeable vulnerability behind her annoyance.

"You put your hands around my neck and called me a liar, Rebekah. So yes, I am still angry." I sneered at her and an uncharacteristically apologetic look appeared in her eyes.

"I am sorry." Rebekah told me with closed eyes and I couldn't help but sent her a small smile as she looked at me hopefully. "It was all Nik's fault, not yours."

"Yes. But now that Mikael is dead and Niklaus is coming back, you can talk about it. He must have an explanation for what he did." I tried carefully and sent her a wary look.

"We'll see. Nik has never been very good at talking about his feelings." Rebekah said mockingly and some her old vigour seemed to reappear.

"No, but at least you can both be happy about Mikael's death together." I pointed out with a smile as I watched her intently to see her reaction.

"Yes. I can't believe that Mikael is finally dead. We are finally done running from him." Rebekah replied with a wavering voice and I could see her eyes become vacant as she seemed to disappear into some distant memory.

"That must be a relief. _I_ feel relieved. I get to live another day." I laughed in an attempt to sound happy about the whole situation and I noticed the confused look that appeared in Rebekah's eyes.

"What do you mean? I know Mikael wanted to kill Nik, but I think he would have let you be." Rebekah told me with a frown and there was a small glim of concern in her eyes.

"Have Niklaus not told you? If he dies, then so do I. The link between us was made with blood and it was strong. I would only wake from my sleep when Niklaus' broke his curse, but if that never happen because of his death then I would have been asleep forever." I explained to her slowly, hoping that I had found a way to stop Rebekah from her vendetta.

"Why haven't anyone told me about that?!" Rebekah exclaimed loudly and I prayed that the silencing spell was strong enough to silence her outburst.

"Does it matter now?" I asked with a small frown and tried to catch Rebekah's eyes that seemed glued to the floor.

"Can't you break that link somehow?" the blonde asked desperately and the uneasy feeling in my stomach settled deeper inside of me.

"Perhaps, but I don't want to. Niklaus has done a lot of horrible things and I may hate him for that, but he is my friend. He is family, Rebekah, and so are you. And I do not abandon family. Because then, where would I be?" I said quietly and I watched the mix of emotions that crossed her face.

"I am so sorry, Malina." Rebekah suddenly sobbed as she ran towards me and enveloped me in a tight hug. It took me a moment to start breathing again, but then I slowly wrapped my arms around her back and returned the hug.

"For what?" I asked uncertainly and calmed a hand over the blonde's hair soothingly. There was a long pause as I waited for Rebekah's answer, hoping that she would tell me truth about Mikael, but that hope disappeared as soon as she spoke.

"For what I did to you yesterday. I was so upset and I took it out on you. You didn't deserve that." Rebekah told as she stepped away from me and tried to get her emotions under control with a deep breath.

"It's okay." I assured her with a small smile, but I couldn't keep the sadness out of my voice as I realized Rebekah was willing to sacrifice me to get to her brother.

"So… are you ready for homecoming tomorrow?" the vampire suddenly asked with an almost excited voice and I had to pause my thoughts to keep up with her change of topic.

"I suppose. I am not sure how those things work, though." I told her uncertainly and a small smile spread on Rebekah's lips.

"Me neither, but we will get through it. So who is taking you?" the blonde continued and it took me a second to understand what she meant.

"No one, I think. Maybe I will be able to convince Nik." I said with a laugh and that regretful look returned immediately to Rebekah's eyes.

"Maybe. But I don't think that really is Nik's scene." Rebekah told me in a brushing off manner and I swallowed a sad sigh. "What about your dress?"

"Caroline is lending me one. I am looking forward to see yours despite the method of choosing." I poked at her and shot her a pointed look to which she just rolled her eyes. "Who are you going with?"

"Matt Donovan agreed to be my date. He is one of Tyler's friends." Rebekah informed me with a small blush on her cheeks that I would have teased her with in another situation.

"Matthew is nice. And quite handsome. He has very blue eyes." I told her with a forced smile and Rebekah's blush intensified. She had always been the girl who loved to easily, but now she was preparing to kill her own brother. And me.

"What are you doing tomorrow?" she then asked and I ignored the guilt I felt because of the plans I had made didn't involve her.

"I promised Caroline to help prepare the decorations for the dance. You can help if you like?" I suggested, but I already knew what her answer would be.

"No, thank you. I don't do handy-work. I suppose I'll see you tomorrow night then." Rebekah said as she moved to leave my room and I gave her small nod as I suddenly lost the ability to speak.

"By the way, it was quite an impressive show you performed earlier with Damon." she complimented with a smirk on her lips as she stood in the doorway.

"He hurt someone I care about. I would do the same for you." I replied with a gentle voice, using my last chance to get through to her, but the Original wouldn't even look at me.

"I know." Rebekah murmured with an almost teary voice as she looked at the floor. "Goodnight, Malina."

"Goodnight."

* * *

><p><strong><em>Rebekah's P.O.V.<em>**

_I should be wearing black_, I thought to myself as I admired my red dress in the long mirror. _That would be more fitting for a funeral._

I immediately shook the thought out of my head and gently calmed my fingers through my blonde curls. My hair sat perfectly and my make-up as well. It had taken me more than hour to fix both, but I couldn't leave anything to chance. I was a thousand years old and I was going to my first high school dance.

_Pathetic._

I shivered as Nik's voice sounded in my head. Soon that voice would be gone. Forever. I took a deep breath to stop the tears that threatened to spill and replayed every memory in my head where Nik had hurt me. There were so many that I could even decide which was worse. I had lost centuries in a box just because of him, but never again.

I tried my best not to think of Malina, but a picture of the smiling witch kept sneaking back into my mind. She didn't deserve this. Her short life had been filled with so much sadness already and now she would never have the chance to find happiness again.

_But it has to be done_, I chastised myself. Maybe it was even for the best that Malina found peace with my brother. I didn't know the true extend of her powers, but I feared what she could do if she got really angry. The chances were that I would find myself running again. Alone.

"Getting a head start, huh?" the doppelgänger's voice sounded behind me and I looked through the mirror to see her standing in the doorway.

"Embarrassing truth," I said with a small laugh and turned around to look at her directly. "This is my first high school dance."

"Ever?" Elena asked disbelievingly and stepped further into the room.

"I never really had time for high school before." I told her as I stared at myself in the mirror. A pang of guilt hit me in the chest as I thought about Niklaus again. "Nik and I were always moving around. Running."

"Anyway," I continued with a small shake of my head as I tried to get the picture of my dying brother out of my head. "I didn't want to leave anything to chance."

There was a long pause of silence as I studied myself intently and tried my best not to make eye contact with myself. How pathetic. It had been nearly impossible to look Malina in the eyes and I couldn't do it with myself either. How was I supposed to convince Nik that everything was fine?

"Have you heard any more from him?" I then asked quickly and small part of me suddenly hoped that he wouldn't come at all. What was I doing?

"No." Elena responded just as quickly and I couldn't help but notice that she seemed nervous. "But I'm sure that when he does return, he'll do it with flair."

I was supposed to find that funny, maybe laugh at the truth behind her words, but I couldn't.

"And Damon and my father are all set with their plan?" I asked through my teeth and I finally willed myself to meet my own gaze. It only made me feel worse.

"Yes."

"Don't tell me." I said as I stepped away from the mirror and walked over to the table where I had put my bracelet. "I don't want to know, I just… I want to go to the dance and leave the rest to Mikael."

In truth, I wanted Mikael nowhere near Niklaus. My brother deserved to die, but not by the hand who had caused him so much pain through the last millennium. If Mikael had just loved Niklaus as he should, then maybe we would never have ended here.

"I know it's really hard." Elena told me with that annoyingly sympathetic voice of hers as she stepped closer to me. "So thank you for helping us get Klaus back into town."

"Just be careful." I warned her in a teary voice. "I've been running for a thousand years for a reason. Mikael is not a good person and he definitely can't be trusted. No one in my family can. Except for Malina."

"But Malina isn't your family." Elena said and I could almost hear her distrust of the witch in the way she said her name.

"She is as much my sister as Nik is my brother." I told her with a sad smile and a worried expression crossed the doppelgänger's face. "But don't worry about her. I will take care of her."

"Are you sure?" Elena asked with an almost suspicious gaze and I quickly nodded. I wouldn't let Malina die alone or surrounded by people who didn't knew or loved her. I could feel tears threatening to spill in my eyes and I fought hard not to let them.

"Are you okay?" the doppelgänger inquired as she stepped closer with concern in her eyes.

"I've spent my whole life loving and hating my brother with equal measure." I told her in a shaky voice. I wasn't going to tell her what I felt most sad about at the moment was Malina's death. "I never thought I'd be the one to help drive the stake through his heart."

"No tears." I said with a small shake of my head and I closed my eyes for a short moment before I moved back to the mirror. "I don't want to ruin my make-up. How do I look?"

"You look amazing." Elena told me with a smile that I couldn't but return. I hoped Matt would think the same. "But you are missing one thing."

"My mother's necklace." I stated in a small voice as I saw the jewellery that hang from Elena's hand and I could feel the tears return.

"You should wear it tonight." Elena suggested with a small smile and I spun around to face the mirror once more. A week ago, I had searched for that necklace with my brother. Now I was going to wear it to his funeral.

"May I?" Elena asked gently and I quickly nodded, unable to get any words out.

The doppelgänger slowly stepped up behind me and I lifted my hair to give her better access to place it around my neck. I had to sniff to stop a sob from escaping me and I had feeling that I needed to reapply some of my make-up.

"Thank you." I told Elena with a teary smile and she gently placed her hand on my shoulder. A sharp pain shot through my lower back as a small grunt emitted from Elena and the feeling of death spread through my veins.

"I'm so sorry." Elena told me with apologetic eyes as I struggled to breathe and I met her gaze through the mirror as I doubled over. "But I can't leave anything to chance either."

I didn't feel my collision with the floor as darkness overwhelmed me.

* * *

><p><strong><em>Malina's P.O.V.<em>**

"I'm here hanging streamers and have glitter all over my hands." I heard Tyler say as I came closer to the arguing couple. "If I'm sired to anyone, it's you."

"Or me." I called out as I came to stand beside Caroline and Tyler chuckled as he returned to decorating the big car.

"Not funny." Caroline deadpanned and I lifted my hands in surrender.

"Have any of you seen Rebekah anywhere?" I then asked and looked between the couple. Caroline looked annoyed by my question and Tyler smiled as if I had missed something funny.

"No, I haven't seen the blood slut today." Caroline said in a clipped voice and I rolled my eyes at her language. The truth was that it made me feel slightly better to hear Caroline call her that because of my own anger towards her, but it still sounded very offensive.

"Please don't call her that when I can hear it." I reprimanded the blonde vampire and she just gave me a small nod.

"Why are you looking for her?" Caroline then asked and I thought about how much I should tell her.

"She just seemed a little off yesterday because of Mikael, so I wanted to check if she was okay. Stefan told me that she wasn't in the Boarding House." I replied with a small shrug and I could see a mix of emotions appear on Caroline's face.

"You talked to Stefan?" she asked with raised eyebrows and I gave her a small nod. It had been my only option since I couldn't really go to the Boarding House because of Mikael and neither Damon nor Elena probably wanted to talk to me.

"He doesn't scare me." I said with a determined voice and Caroline surprised me with a proud smile.

"And what about Mikael? Is he really dead?" the blonde inquired more carefully and I sent a sideways glance to Tyler, who was listening as well.

"Yes. He is. But I still need both of you to be careful. Mikael and Niklaus have been at it for a thousand years, so I have feeling it won't end this easily." I warned them and held Tyler's gaze for a long moment. If anything were to happen between Mikael and Nik, then Tyler would probably been in the crossfire.

"They better not ruin my dance." Caroline murmured to herself and I watched Tyler roll his eyes amusedly.

"Have you heard from him?" I asked Tyler, but the hybrid just shook his head. "Call me when you do."

"Don't you think he'll contact you first?" Tyler asked as he clapped his hands in a failed attempt to get glitter off of them.

"You never know with Nik. He was unpredictable even as a human." I replied with a small shake of my head and then frowned when Caroline's eye grew wide with what looked like both fear and annoyance.

"Talking about me, are we?" an amused voice came from behind me and spun around to see Nik standing with a smirk on his lips and his hands behind his back.

"Nik!" I exclaimed happily, forgetting that I was supposed to be angry with him, and threw myself into his arms.

He caught me with a small laugh and lifted me from the ground for a few seconds. I could feel he expected me to let go as my feet touched to the ground once more, but tears had formed in my eyes and my arms wrapped around his neck tighter.

As the night before, I suddenly realised how lonely I had been. I had spent time with Caroline and Rebekah, but they didn't know me like Niklaus did. And I was afraid. My already drained energy was all but gone, but I hadn't been able to show that. Being diplomatic, strong and friendly had made me tired and the over-use of my powers hadn't helped.

"Malina?" Nik whispered into my ear and I tightened my grip for a couple of seconds before I let go of him and took a step back. I forced a smile to my lips as I tried to blink the tears away and I sighed heavily as Nik reached out and wiped away a tear from my cheek.

"Is everything okay, sweetheart?" he asked me gently and I quickly wiped away the last of my tears.

"Yes." I told him quietly and the smile on my lips became more sincere by the second. Maybe everything would be now. "I didn't expect to see you here."

"Well, I had to find my hybrid, who wasn't answering his phone." Nik told me and sent a small glare over my shoulder. I shut my eyes tiredly when Caroline huffed in annoyance and the Original hybrid's eyes immediately landed on the blonde.

"And your name is?" Niklaus asked my friend with equal annoyance and I looked up to see a calculating look in his eyes.

"None of your business." Caroline retorted with a small tilt of her head and crossed her arms in front of her. I moved to stand between the two, so I could keep an eye on their reactions. And manage to stop Niklaus if he found Caroline too big-mouthed.

There was a long moment of silence while Nik eyed Caroline curiously, but then an amused smirk spread on his lips and I sighed in relief.

"Care." Tyler warned quietly and sent his girlfriend a pointed look.

"Care?" Niklaus asked curiously and then looked at Caroline, whose irritation had switched to her boyfriend.

"Caroline." she said in a cold voice and the smile on Nik's lips widened. I couldn't decide if he suddenly remembered Caroline's earlier role in his sacrifice or if he just liked the name.

"Caroline." Niklaus repeated as he held the blonde's gaze and I noticed Caroline tense for a short moment, before she looked away in defiance. I understood her reaction, though. The way he said her name almost sound like a caress because of the rolling 'r'.

"Would you mind if I took your boyfriend away for a bit?" Nik asked in a surprisingly friendly voice but the look in his eyes told me that he was trying to be charming. Too bad for him that it didn't seem to work on Caroline.

"Why ask when you're going to do it anyway?" Caroline sassed back and I watched how Nik's smile fell at her reply. Luckily, so did Tyler, who quickly stepped over to his girlfriend.

"It's fine, Care. I'll see you tonight, okay?" he told his girlfriend, who was still glaring at Niklaus, and then kissed her cheek. After a long moment, Caroline finally nodded and Tyler walked over to Nik, who didn't remove his eyes from the blonde baby vampire.

My mother's words about Caroline ran through my head and I shook my head with a small smile on my lips. Maybe she had been right about her vision. Even though, it at the moment looked like Caroline wanted to tear off Nik's head. And vice versa.

"Nik?" I called out in an attempt to move his murderous glare from my friend and the hybrid slowly turned his head to look at me. "My dress is at Caroline's. But I can go pick it up and come with you now."

"You have fun with Caroline." Nik told me and his smile returned as his gaze swiftly moved to Caroline and back to me. "I'll send someone to pick you up for the dance."

I nodded with a slightly confused expression on my face and then looked at Caroline, who was having a silent conversation with her boyfriend.

"Be careful, Malina." Niklaus then warned me quietly and sent me an intense look before placing a quick kiss on my forehead. He then sent Tyler a meaningful look and walked away with nothing further to say, leaving Tyler to follow.

* * *

><p>"I still think this is much too tight." I complained as Caroline zipped up the dress she was lending me.<p>

It was a tight black dress with long sleeves and the hem stopped mid-thigh. It made me feel slightly constipated, but apparently beauty required suffering. Or so Caroline said.

"Quit complaining, you look amazing! Klaus won't be able to take his eyes off you." Caroline told me with a bright smile but I just frowned in return.

"And why would I want that?" I asked in confusion and a flustered expression appeared on Caroline's face.

"Oh, I just thought… Maybe you and Klaus. I mean, you seemed so happy to see him. Like really happy." Caroline rambled with downcast eyes as she suddenly was very busy with brushing my hair.

"Me and Nik? Are you mad?" I exclaimed with a laugh and Caroline looked offended for a moment before she smiled as well. "Yes, I was happy to see Niklaus, which I know you do not understand. But this has been a very long week, so it was nice to see a friendly face once more. If you could call him that."

"I'm a friendly face." Caroline responded in a soft voice, but I could see the hurt in her eyes.

"That you are. But you are also friends with Elena, which I don't blame you for. She just seems to have taken a strong… dislike to me. As much as I want her to trust me, I cannot trust her and that is exhausting. And then there is Bonnie and Mikael, and the issues just keep piling up." I told her with a tired sigh and the blonde nodded in understanding.

"I get it." Caroline told me with a smile and spun me around in chair I was sitting on so she could put mascara on my eyelashes. Emma had showed me how make-up worked, but I still hadn't fully figured out how to use it.

"I guess it was just the way he looked at you." she then trailed off and was suddenly very focused on applying make-up to my face.

"Looked at me?! Niklaus was staring at you the whole time!" I exclaimed with a laugh that became louder as a horrified expression appeared on Caroline's face.

"Because he wanted to rip my head off!" Caroline retorted loudly and stopped her styling to gesture with her hands wildly.

"Well, you didn't exactly make it easy for him." I stated her with my eyebrows raised at her and Caroline let out a small giggle, before putting on a serious mask.

"Can you blame me?" Caroline asked pointedly and then cracked a smile when I shook my head. "Great, then please don't let your best friend take off my head."

"I shall see what I can do." I told her solemnly and with feigned seriousness that made Caroline shove my shoulder playfully with a laugh. "But just to be clear, anything you saw between Niklaus and I was nothing more than sibling love. And that goes for both of us."

"If you say so." Caroline said with hands raised in surrender and shook my head at the attitude she was giving me.

"I do. Besides, I could never be with Niklaus. Not when I am-" I interrupted myself before I could finish the sentence as I suddenly realised what I was going to say. There was a confused look in Caroline's eyes and I knew I wouldn't get out of this one.

"When you're what?" she asked curiously and I cursed inwardly as Caroline's eyes widened in understanding. "Oh my God! You're in love with someone else, aren't you?!"

"I don't know if I love him, but it does not matter. As things are now, I cannot be with him." I confessed with a small sigh and tried to send the blonde a smile that wasn't too sad.

"Wait, is it Alaric?!" Caroline said in a dramatic whisper and I rolled my eyes as yet another person thought that Alaric and I were any more than… friends? As much as I liked him; a relationship would never work between us. It was too weird and complicated.

"No! I do not understand where you get that idea from. Rebekah thought the same." I objected as I gestured my arms and a sour expression settled on Caroline's face at the mention of Rebekah. "The person I am talking about; you don't know him. I am not even sure if I do anymore. But I was in love with him once and I don't think I ever fell out of it."

"So someone I don't know, but you've had the time to fall in love with. Which means it must be someone who also lived a thousand years ago!" Caroline deduced with an exciting smile and I shook my head amusedly until her next guess came. "Elijah!"

"No. Can we please talk of something else before you make me completely depressed?" I pleaded with my hands folded in front of me and Caroline surrendered with slumped shoulders.

"But I love love!" she complained after a short moment and I shot her a pointed glare that made nod in understanding. Caroline then returned to her treatment of me and a comfortable silence spread between us as she finished up her work.

"Elena called me this morning." Caroline informed me in a low voice when she finished and she moved back to look at me expectantly. "She told me about Damon… and you."

"Oh." was all I could say, not sure what Caroline felt about my sudden willingness to cause others pain.

"You didn't have to do that, you know. It's not worth it to have a vengeful Damon come after you." Caroline told me with a small laugh but I could see in her eyes how much it really meant for her. Which made even sadder that she didn't think she was worth it.

"Trust me, Caroline, it was worth it." I assured her and grabbed her hands with mine, squeezing them gently. The smile on the blonde's lips went from apologetic to thankful and I couldn't but smile with her. "What did Elena have to say about it?"

"She was sorry for not realizing how much it still affected me. And, of course, she apologized for Damon." Caroline told me in a tight voice and I noticed a bitter gleam in her eyes.

"Don't worry. You will get an apology from Damon soon enough." I promised her and Caroline looked as if she was about to protest, when she suddenly changed her mind.

"Thank you."

Our small moment was broken when Caroline's phone suddenly rang and I turned to look at my reflection as Caroline answered it.

My black curls hang loosely over my shoulders and a light pink lip-gloss lit up against my bronze skin. As a child I had always wondered why my skin was lighter than my mother's but apparently it was because my father's father had been Caucasian.

"What?!" Caroline exclaimed loudly, startling me out of my thoughts and I looked at the blonde, who had an almost panicked expression in her eyes. "What the hell do you mean by that? The gym can't be flooded! There is a dance there tonight!"

"Moved?!" the blonde replied confusedly after the person on the other end had reacted to her outburst. "The Lockwood Mansion? I think I would know if the party had been moved to my _boyfriend's_ house."

"Ugh, fine. I'll see you there." Caroline told her friend and then hung up with an irritated huff. I leaned back in fear when a pair of angry blue eyes suddenly found mine and Caroline looked as if she was trying hard not to yell.

"My dance just got moved because _your_ friend flooded the gym. And don't you even play innocent because we both know it was him!" she said with a pointed finger and I sighed heavily as Niklaus' theatrics had gotten me in trouble once again.

"It does sound like him. But I knew nothing about it." I defended myself and Caroline seemed to believe me as she fell back on her bed.

"I hate Klaus." I heard her mumble to herself and I shook my head with a small smile on my lips. That seemed to be the general opinion on him.

The sound of my phone vibrating on the table had Caroline sit up again and I could feel her curious stare as I read the message I had received.

"_A car will pick you up in ten minutes. – Nik." _

"There's a car coming for us in ten minutes." I told Caroline who made another irritated huff before she jumped from her bed to finish her own make-up.

"Seriously?" she exclaimed loudly five minutes later and I looked at her in confusion. All she did was to hold up a finger and the next second someone rang the doorbell. "That was so not ten minutes."

"You can finish up while I open the door." I told her in an attempt to ease her annoyance and I quickly grabbed my clutch before running downstairs. I felt awkward in the heels Caroline had forced me into but I managed to make it to the door without falling.

The window in the door showed me a tall man with a very broad chest and I opened the door hesitantly in fear that he would for some reason attack me. Instead he wore a bright smile that lit up his clear blue eyes and I felt how a smile appeared on my lips as well.

The man in front of me was huge. But the kind look in his eyes and the tousled dark blonde hair sort of contradicted the feeling of danger that came from him.

"Hello, I'm Theodore Williams, your escort for the evening." he introduced himself in a strange accent that reminded me of Niklaus' but yet it sounded different. He reached out his hand in greeting and I noticed how it didn't pass the threshold to the house.

"Malina." I replied in a friendly voice and hesitantly took his hand. It always felt strange to touch a hybrid. Vampires were cold and dead-ish while a hybrid was warm… and dead-ish. "And you must be one of Niklaus' hybrids."

"I am." he told me with a small nod and was about to say more, when he was suddenly interrupted by Caroline.

"Holy shi-" the blonde's voice came from behind me and I turned around to see Caroline stare at Theodora with wide eyes. She then looked at me and mouthed her next words as if Theodore wouldn't understand them. "Who is that?"

"Caroline, this is Theodore. He is one Niklaus' hybrids and apparently my date for the evening." I told her with a pointed glare, hoping that she would keep her mouth shut.

"You don't look like a hybrid." Caroline said with an inspecting gaze as she slowly moved closer. "You look more like… some Norse God. I know! Thor, the God of thunder! That could totally be you."

Both Caroline and I jumped in surprised when Theodore let out a rumbling laugh and Caroline stared at me with withheld laughter.

"Did we just have an earthquake?" she asked amusedly and I shook my head at her joke.

"Let's go. I won't worry Niklaus with being late." I told Caroline as struggled with putting on her stilettoes, but the blonde just rolled her eyes at me.

"God forbid that the Almighty Hybrid would have to wait for a couple of minutes." she said mockingly as she squeezed past Theodore, who was still standing outside the house.

"She doesn't like Klaus very much?" Theodore questioned in his dark voice as we walked behind Caroline to the car Theodore had arrived in.

"No one here does. Except for me. Occasionally." I told him with a small shrug and he chuckled in amusement. There was something about his laugh that made me want to laugh with him, but instead I just smiled.

"Come on, Teddy! We can't let your new master wait!" Caroline called impatiently as she stood by the car. She was clearly more annoyed then I had thought with Niklaus' interfering with her dance and I reminded myself to keep her as far away from the Original hybrid as possible tonight.

"Teddy?" the hybrid asked me with a lifted brow and I could sense that he was becoming slightly annoyed with the even more irritated blonde. Those hybrid tempers wasn't something to take easily. But Caroline didn't seem to bother.

"Ignore her moodiness. It has been a long week here in Mystic Falls and Niklaus just decided to ruin the high school dance that she spent a lot of time on planning. Just please make sure that she does not come too close to Niklaus. And just stay out of danger in general." I said with an almost pleading look and I didn't realize I had used the sire bond until he nodded at me in understanding.

"Of course." he told me and knowing that he would do almost anything I asked him to, freaked me out.

Caroline glared at Theodore for a long moment as he opened the car door for her and I all but pushed her inside so we could move on. Theodore then closed the door behind us and got into the driver's seat. By the looks of it, it was an expensive car, but I knew too little about cars to name any brand.

"So, Teddy." Caroline said after a long moment of silence and I sent a warning glance that she just ignored. "Where did you get that accent from?"

"Australia." he answered in a casual voice and it seemed as if some of his annoyance had disappeared. It took me a moment to realize that it was probably my fault since I had told him to ignore her moodiness. God, I hated this.

"How did you end up here then?" Caroline asked and she suddenly sounded genuinely curious.

"My old pack was killed by a group of werewolf hunters so I left Australia and decided to start over here. I was living in the woods when Klaus found me. He asked me if I wanted to be a part of his pack and I accepted." Theodore told us and I could feel Caroline become completely still beside me.

"I'm sorry." she said sympathetically and smiled as Theodore nodded at her through the rear view mirror. The next moment we pulled up to large parking space that was already filled with cars and Caroline was out of the car before Theodore had even stopped it.

"Thanks for the ride, Teddy! I'll see you later, Malina. I have a boyfriend that I need to speak with." Caroline called out and then turned around to wave at me. Another laugh rumbled from Theodore's chest and I looked at him questioningly as he helped me exit the car.

"She's something." he continued laughing and shot a look after her bouncing figure that was soon lost amongst the crowd.

"That she is." I agreed with a small smile and then took the arm he offered me with a sigh. "Here we go."

* * *

><p><strong>Homecoming is coming! (so bad it's not even a pun)<br>And I got to introduce Teddy. Yes, I called him Theodore just so he could be called Teddy. And he shouldn't be too hard to place a face on since I've given some pretty strong hints about who he might look like. Australian, blonde, big and looks like Thor. *wink wink***

**Tell me what you think:) I will try to post the next chapter soon! **


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